Falco's Bar
by super maria
Summary: Adventure after adventure, Fox and friends’ destinies unravel.
1. Falco's Bar

Fox entered Falco's bar.

He automatically said, "Give me a drink, Falco."

Before Falco even moved his hands, Fox had paid for his drink.

"You know, you're my friend, Fox. I'll give you a discount," Falco said but Fox just threw his hand in the air, dismissing Falco's offer.

As Fox guzzled down his drink, Falco asked, "What are you going to do tonight?"

"I'll drink myself silly and the rest will not be in my control," Fox said as Falco passed him another drink.

"What happened at work? Were you fired?" Falco asked.

Fox looked at Falco like it was none of his business, but then answered, "Nah, I'm just bored."

"Bored!? How could you be bored? Your life is a roller coaster of adventures, day in and day out. How could you possibly be bored?" Falco said.

Fox looked at him like he was crazy. "Are you crazy? You don't even know what I do for a living. Yet you act like it's the best thing in the world. Anyway, I don't like roller coasters."

"You don't like roller coasters?!" Falco began but Fox was too frustrated to listen to his pointless babble.

He decided to go and sit somewhere else.

Of course, every time Fox finished off a drink, he'd look at Falco and he'd rush over with another one.

That's just how it was.

Usually, Fox would get so drunk, he'd humiliate himself at least twice, and then when the bar closed, Falco would take him home.

By now, most of the regulars at Falco's bar, and some others, knew Fox.

Sometimes when Fox entered the bar, they'd cheer.

But tonight, something was amiss.

Fox looked to each side of him, the wall and the area where people were.

He noted that the wallpaper on the wall was peeling and that a lot of people were murmuring to one another.

He saw them all clustered into groups, whispering with dodgy eyes.

All of a sudden, Fox didn't feel safe anymore.

He decided to ask Falco what was the word on the street, as Falco put it.

"What's going on, Falco?" Fox asked.

Falco pretended he wasn't listening and said, "Hmmm…?"

Fox sighed and said, "What's the word on the street."

Falco grinned, then replied, "There's a new fighter in town. Nobody's seen him yet but he's on his way to make a grand entrance in every public place to introduce himself. We also thought that if you didn't know, you get drunk and make a complete ass of yourself in front of him."

Fox did not think this was funny so he sat down in the corner, feeling like everyone in the world was against him.

_What was so great about fighters, anyway? Who actually watched the fights?_ Fox thought as he had another sip of beer.

The phone rang then and the whole bar went silent.

Falco picked up the phone and said in his calmest voice possible, "Who is it?"

After a long while, Falco added, "Thank you. Goodbye."

Suspense filled the room as Falco put down the phone and said, "He's coming here first."

Everybody in the room cheered.

Fox felt sick.

_Fighters are always losers who suck at everything except for beating up another human being_, Fox thought and after a few minutes, several people entered the bar.

They were bodyguards hiding the fighter who they'd been waiting for all night.

One of the bodyguards said, "Coast is clear," and they parted to reveal the next fighter in town.

Many people were shocked.

The way people had been talking it had seemed like the fighter would've been a guy.

But it turned out _she_ was not.

But still, people were drunk so they cheered all the same even though they were confused.

She was once more surrounded as people asked for her autograph and such.

She had been taking out of her fighting class a few weeks ago and had been taken here for a couple of tournaments.

She was actually one of the first female fighters.

Fox was extremely bored now as all he could hear were people cheering and laughing and screaming and talking about the new fighter.

Surprisingly, Fox learnt a lot about her by hearing people talk although some of it was just extremely fast spread rumors.

Eventually, when everyone had met her and had gotten her autograph, including Falco, she left to go to the next public area.

Fox also learned that the only reason everyone was so excited about her was because she'd beaten Captain Falcon in one fight already and that he was coming back for a rematch.

The other thing that was on everyone's lips was her name.

People had been suggesting fighter names but her actual name was Samus.

* * *

Fox knew that Falco would eventually drag him to a fight against his will.

As they sat down in their seats, Falco eating popcorn, Fox could only dread the fight to come.

The fights were a violent sport but no one was ever allowed to kill.

Fox thought that anyone who liked the fights were savages.

As he saw Samus and some boring new guy battling it out, he winced every time he saw blood.

Fox felt sick.

"Falco, I feel sick. I'm going home," Fox said.

"Yeah, yeah," Falco said and then Samus kicked the new guy in the face, causing him to fall off the stage.

Falco said in approval, but also quite evilly, "YEAH! You suck, Mango! Go, Samus, the Blue Viper!"

Fox shuddered and called a taxi to home.

That night, Fox was sick twice and felt sorry for all the fighters in the world.

As Fox pulled the covers up to his chin, he heard a knock at his front door.

He ignored it and tried to get to sleep.

Fox then heard a louder knock at his door, infuriating him.

After 5 minutes of silence, Fox tried to go to sleep again.

But then he heard Falco calling his name.

"Fox. Fox," he said, quietly.

Fox went to his front door and opened it but Falco was not there.

He looked out his window and saw Falco, standing on the ledge outside Fox's apartment, 4 stories high.

Fox, slowly, let Falco inside, noticing that Falco was holding a drink and was drunk.

"Thanks Fox, *hiccup*," Falco said and then threw up on Fox's carpet.

Fox sighed, then grimaced and made coffee for Falco.

"Yuck, I hate coffee," Falco said and quickly drank it all up. "Can I have some more?"

Fox then drove Falco home and then drove back to his apartment to sleep.

_I hate you Falco_, Fox thought as he finally fell asleep.

* * *

The next day, Fox woke up and saw Falco passed out on the floor.

Fox was furious that Falco had snuck into his apartment as he slept even after Fox had driven him home.

When Falco awoke, he was standing in his bar taking someone's order and somehow he was talking to them about the fights.

Fox was currently at work which was a small office building where he was currently stationed as the janitor.

They didn't leave much rubbish so Fox didn't know why they'd need a janitor.

Unfortunately, he asked someone this, who told their boss, who told their boss, who fired Fox.

Fox retreated to Falco's bar in the late evening.

"Oh, hey, Fox," Falco said and then, "Why so glum?"

Fox muttered, "I was fired."

Falco smiled and then looked surprised.

Fox looked at him and said, "What?"

Falco was looking behind him so Fox turned and saw a famous person who'd no one had expected to see in this bar except once.

It was Samus.

"Oh, what happened? Why are you here?" Falco said, pushing Fox off his seat so Samus could sit there.

Samus said, "Oh, I just came for a drink."

Falco tried to hide his excitement but failed like many others in the room.

To really piss Falco off, Fox sat in his previous seat, where Samus was about to sit.

Samus was surprised but then she just sat in the seat next to him.

Fox was pleased because he was victorious in some way.

Falco looked disapprovingly at Fox and then took Samus's order.

Fox soon learnt his mistake.

By sitting here, he had to sit next to Samus who, as a fighter, he despised.

Fox got up and moved to an empty table, which he always eventually did.

Everyone else ran to Samus and asked her a billion questions.

After, somehow, answering all her fans questions, Samus made her way out of the mob and over to Fox's table.

Fox sighed and asked, "What do you want?"

Samus replied, "Who are you?"

Fox hadn't realized that he'd made an impression on her but he answered, "I'm Fox."

He didn't shake hands with Samus and she asked, "Don't you like me?"

"I hate fighters! The fights are a violent and an out-of-control sport! I don't even consider them a sport. We should stop them before someone dies and people want more death!" Fox screamed.

Samus said, "Oh, you're one of those people. Well, then I have to tell you, be careful."

Fox was confused. "Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

Samus looked around herself then said, "I'd like to tell you but… never mind. Just keep an eye out."

Then she left the bar.

Falco rushed to him and asked, "What'd she say?"

"I'm not sure, Falco. I'm not sure…" Fox said, pondering what Samus had just told him.

Fox left and Falco went to the phone as it rang and went silent.

Fox walked home, leaving his car at the bar.

He questioned his mind about why Samus would say that.

As he walked down a particularly dark alley, something grabbed hold of him and dragged him into the shadows, knocking him out.

When he awoke, he was in a grim cell on an unstable bed looking at a dirty ceiling.

"Where am I?" Fox asked thin air.

Fox waited in the silence for something to happen and after half an hour, Fox was really hungry.

Finally, someone came to his cell and unlocked the door.

They were some unknown people he'd never seen before.

One of them said, "Hello, Fox. You've been here for two weeks."

Before he could finish, they all heard footsteps traveling towards the cell and Samus ran in.

"Hey, stop!" she said. "He's my friend. You can't put him in that torture."

"You don't get a choice in this," the same unknown man said. "Get out of here."

Samus growled and said, "I'll get you…"

Fox was frightened because Samus had mentioned torture.

As Samus left, Fox tried to guess where he was.

_It must have something to do with the fights_, Fox thought.

But before he could figure anything out, the unknown man grabbed a hold of him and said, "I think you'll do nicely for the next fight."

He was then led through several corridors until they dropped him in a cage.

But Fox then realized there was an opening at the end of it.

He ran and ran until his legs were weak but finally made it.

He entered an arena and finally figured out where he was.

He was in the middle of a fight.

He looked at the other end of the arena and saw an unfamiliar fighter.

Then the opening behind him closed up.

Someone up in the crowd screamed, "3, 2, 1, GO!"


	2. Friends And Enemies

Before Fox could explain, the fighter swung his leg into Fox's face. Loads of people cheered and Fox despised the fights even more.

The fighter punched him in his stomach and then tripped him over with a leg attack. He was about to grab Fox and throw him into the air, but Fox still had some pride. He decided to fight back.

Fox rolled away before the fighter could get his grab off and then jumped into the air. He flung his foot out, hitting the fighter in his face as payback and then he ran all the way around him without the fighter being able to do much because he had bad reflexes.

Fox put his palm over the fighter's mouth so he could scream and lifted him off the ground. Then he rammed him into the ground, causing the audience to cheer like madmen. Fox kicked his face and then flattened him.

He looked around at the audience who was cheering for Fox. _I'm a fighter! _Fox thought. _…and I love it!_ Fox saw a familiar face in the crowd… Falco was there at the fight, cheering for Fox as all the others were.

Fox started repeatedly punching the fighter in the back of the head until he thought he'd crack his skull. The fighter raised his hand in defeat and some people in robes carried him off the stage.

Fox swirled around and around, looking at the faces in the crowd. He had heard the narrator saying things throughout the match but right then he actually listened to him.

"This is the first time in the fights history when an unknown challenger has stepped forward and won the fight!" the narrator said. "The first time in history! You people who came here today are very, very lucky." Everybody started chanting Fox's name and Fox thought_, this has got to be a dream_.

But then two robed figures came and dragged Fox off the stage. They threw him back in his cell as the same unknown people as before, came and whispered to each other.

After several minutes of whispering, the unknown man that had first talked to Fox said, "Okay, Fox. We're going to give you a chance." "A chance for what?" Fox asked. "Either you keep up the fighting or we'll dispose of you," the unknown man said.

The fighter that Fox had just beaten was never seen again. Fox wondered what 'disposing' was. "Is it good?" Fox asked, knowing it could only be bad. The unknown man shook his head.

Then an unknown woman stepped forward and said, "Hurry up. His next fight's tomorrow. We've got to transfer him." "Transfer me to where?" Fox asked. The unknown man said as he dragged Fox out of his cell, "You and your questions! We're going to transfer you from the bad side… to the good side."

Fox then entered a gigantic room with a ceiling that was as high as the sky. A huge fountain stood in the middle of the room and there were all the gaming systems in the world with all the games in the world you could possibly want. TV's and computers were scattered all over the place as if they were not very important. "This is one of the fighter's lounges," the unknown man said.

In the light, Fox got a better look at him. "One?!" Fox gasped. "Yes, now get some sleep. You'll need the energy for your first official fight tomorrow," the unknown man said. As the unknown people left, Fox was not dreading his next fight. He was actually looking forward to it.

He wondered how he could change his mind about the fights so quickly, though he didn't really care. He walked around the fountain ten times and then decided to explore the rest.

He opened the only door and found himself in a corridor leading to another door. Fox opened that door and found himself in a room he could sleep in. Fox wondered how there could only be one room in this entire place.

Then he realized it must be some sort of trick. Fox figured that he would have to rest up for his next fight and collapsed on his new bed, falling asleep almost immediately.

Fox awoke some time later in a completely different room. It must be time for the fight, Fox thought. He was happy when he said this but quickly reminded himself of the horror of the fights, although it didn't change much.

The unknown man that was always there with Fox came forward and said, "You're going to be fighting a much more challenging opponent this time, Fox. Be prepared." Fox smiled and said, "I'm ready for anything," even though he was already feeling nervous.

The unknown man led him to a cage like the one at his first fight and Fox walked down it. The cage shut behind him but he didn't have to walk as far as the first time. When he entered the arena, there were flashing lights and more people in the crowd. He looked at his opponent and saw Samus.

Fox realized quickly that he didn't really want to fight Samus and he could see in her eyes that she didn't want to, either. But the crowd was cheering so what else could they do? "3, 2, 1, Go!" a different narrator shouted.

Fox jumped into action, feeling that rush of excitement he'd felt when he had crushed his first opponent. He leapt forward but Samus jumped to the side, causing Fox to crash on the ground. She kicked him over and over again but every time she did so, she whispered, "I'm sorry."

Fox rolled away before he was kicked again and pushed himself up. He crouched on the ground and grabbed Samus's leg, making her fall on the ground. She winced when she landed, but then Fox saw the pain in her eyes.

He helped her up and said, "I cannot fight you. You're the closest friend I've ever had. Even Falco wasn't that great." "Neither can I. When you're a fighter you can't make friends so I thought that I could help someone, just once," Samus said. They both raised their hands in forfeit and the crowd booed.

"Wow! This new fighter is bringing so many surprises to the sport of fighting," the narrator said, "This is another major thing. Never before in the history of fighting has there been a tie! At least not one where they made a deal or something!" Fox looked at the crowd who was furious with the outcome of the match, but saw Falco who waved at him. Two robed figures came and dragged them off the arena.

Fox was wondering whether they were going to dispose of him or not, but then he was thrown into a cell. The same unknown people came back and told him, "I guess putting you up against Samus, your apparent friend, was a bit much and too fast. But as soon as you get used to our ways, you'll be glad that we dragged you off the street in the first place."

Fox remembered the reason why he hated the fights so much and wanted to scream at them. "I'm not ever going to fight another match again," Fox announced. "Fine. Dispose of him," the same unknown man said. "Alright! I'll do more fighting," Fox said, frightened. The unknown man laughed and they dragged Fox back to the lounge for the fighters.

As soon as Fox got back to his room, Samus entered. "Fox. I've got to tell you more about the fights," she said. Fox was surprised that she'd immediately said this but waited to hear more. "Fox, they take people who are against the fights and make them fight the real fighters," Samus said.

"I kind of figured that one out on my own," Fox said. "But when they lose and are never seen again… they're disposed of. I myself, do not know what happens to them, but I do remember screaming," Samus said.

"So that's what would've happened to me if I'd lost," Fox asked. Samus nodded and then added, "It's what happened the opponent that you beat." Fox gulped. "I'm actually trying to save all of the people that they put in here but there are too many. I hope you can find a way out," Samus said and then left.

Fox gulped again and then wondered how Samus had found her way to his room and where she slept. Fox thought about what he could do to get out but came to a dead end. He gave up and went to sleep.

Over the next week or so, Fox was put through many fights where he fought many random fighters. Whenever he had to fight a normal person who had been captured and forced to fight, he tried to help them but normally failed.

Fox moved upwards in the world of fighting. More people knew of him than when he was daily going to Falco's bar. Until he was level with Samus and Captain Falcon. Fox realized that he hadn't been doing much but fighting for the entire week or so he'd been there.

He was almost about to give up until one of the unknown people told him, "You're going to fight Samus, again. Try this time." Fox had so many fans now he couldn't turn down the match and neither did Samus.

But that night when all the fighters were eating in the dining room (Fox had learnt that the door in the lounge led to every room in the place. You just had to think about where you wanted to go), Samus said to him, "I'm planning on escaping with all the non-fighters tonight." "Have you found a way out?" Fox asked. "I think so," Samus said and that was that.

That night, before Fox fell asleep, Samus and the rest came to his room. "Come on, Fox," Samus said, shaking Fox awake. They walked to the cells where the non-fighters were normally kept and they walked for ages, down the corridor.

After about five minutes, they were almost ready to give up. But then the unknown man who Fox had talked to many times, stopped them. Fox gulped and so did Samus. "I should stop you but… I understand. I'm against the fights as well," he said.

Fox was surprised. "I am surprised myself that I've kept my job for this long. Anyway, the chambers are all controlled by magic so only certain people can actually get out of here," the unknown man said. Samus and the rest were all disappointed. "Fortunately, I'm one of them," the unknown man added. "I still don't trust you. What's your name?" Fox asked.

"…It's Marth. Now, don't ask me anymore questions and let's get out of here!" Marth said. Everything seemed to be going well, Fox thought. Too well.

Marth used his powers to get them out of the fighting chambers and to the outside world. "Look, I'm going to go back. You run," Marth said and Fox was even more suspicious of him. As they ran Samus and Fox talked.

"So, we made it out successfully. But you're a fighter! What are you going to do?" Fox asked.

"I'm sure something will turn up," Samus said.

"Are you really a fighter? Everything about you just seems out of place," Fox said.

"Okay, I'll tell you. I work for a secret organization to stop the fights. And my name's not Samus," she said, taking of a mask she had apparently been wearing. "I'm Sheik."

Fox was startled by this turn of events but then Marth returned and said, "They won't wake up until later now so we've got plenty of time."

Fox screamed, "This is going too simply! Something must be wrong! What's going on?" Then Fox woke up, realizing that his escape had all been a dream. "What a disappointment," Fox said.


	3. Captain Falcon's Rematch

Fox soon picked up that he'd be fighting Samus, which he'd forgotten. As he'd done so many times before, he started to make his may towards the cage. He then saw the unknown man from his dream, possibly Marth.

"Wait, Marth! Please don't make me do this! I know there's good inside you," Fox said. He only realized afterwards that he'd said 'Marth'. But the unknown man stared at him and said, "How'd you know my name!?" Fox only had time to respond with, "I had a dream…" before he was thrown into the cage.

Marth shuddered at the thought of having 'good' inside him and walked off. Fox had no choice but to fight Samus now. But was she really Sheik like she'd said in his dream?

Fox had no time to figure out if his dream was somehow real or if it had just had a bazaar reference to Marth's real name, because the crowd was cheering for him. He walked slowly forward, accepting his fate to fight Samus (or sheik).

When he finally made it to the arena, he squinted in the sudden bright light. He faced his fans and faced his fears in one moment before he heard the narrator shout, "3, 2, 1, Go!"

Samus sadly smiled at Fox before she accepted her fate as well. Falco was staring at Fox with his hands clenched to the metal fencing around the crowd, so they couldn't jump into the arena. Fox was almost scared as he looked at Falco but then realized that he should be fighting Samus/Sheik.

The cheering from the crowd was quite distracting but Fox knew what he was doing. Suddenly, everything seemed to go into slow-motion and Samus charged forward. Fox crashed to the ground, as he had not been expecting Samus's sudden attack.

Samus was about to attack him again but Fox kicked her in the face and leapt to his feet. Samus backed away from Fox to regain an advantage but Fox quickly swooped in by grabbing her feet.

He managed to lift her up into the air and throw her across the stage without her being able to protest. The crowd cheered even louder as they saw blood trailing from Samus's mouth.

Normally, this would disgust Fox but he this time he fed on her pain. He ran towards her, planning to jump into the air and use a drill kick attack but instead he asked her, "Is your real name Sheik?"

Samus was startled by his quick change in actions but quietly answered, "How did you know? And what else do you know?" Fox was about to reply, when he realized that they couldn't have a conversation as they fought so he said, "I'll tell you after the fight. Let's make this quick."

The fight continued with a barrel of kicks, punches and many other attacks until finally they ran out of time. The crowd cheered as they walked off the stage, battered and bruised, bleeding from their wounds and panting from exhaustion.

They returned to the fighter's lounge and Fox told Sheik about his dream. "I've got no idea about your dream but you seem to know my secret," Sheik said. "Do you wear a mask? Like in my dream?" Fox asked but Samus shook her head.

But then Marth came in, obviously wanting an explanation for how Fox had known his real name. "Um… I had a dream and in it you told me your name was Marth," Fox explained. "Tell me more about your dream," Marth asked. "Um… Um… Um…" Fox stalled. Marth cackled and then said, "It doesn't matter, I guess. I merely came here to tell Samus that she's going to be fighting Captain Falcon today."

He left the room and Fox sighed with relief. Sheik said, "I wonder if he really does have a magical ability?" Fox sighed again but not with relief and said, "I guess I don't." Sheik said, "Hey, who knows? I've got magical abilities and you had that weird dream… oops, I told you I had magical abilities."

Fox didn't even notice because then, Captain Falcon strolled in. "Hey, Fox. I've heard a bit about you. Hey, Samus," Falcon said. "Um… Can I ask you something, Captain Falcon?" Fox asked. "Captain Falcon's so formal. Call me Douglas," Falcon said.

"Yeah. I'll call you Captain Falcon," Fox said and then lead Falcon to a corner. "Did Samus really beat you in her first match?" Fox asked. "Well, actually it was just a publicity stunt," Falcon admitted. "I'm going to beat her in the next match so that we will both be appreciated."

Fox still did not quite understand Falcon's plan but he gave up on figuring it out. Then all the fighters gathered in the dining room to eat dinner.

Over the time that Fox had been there, he'd made several friends but his main being, Pit and Mewtwo. Neither of them were very famous to the fans of fighting but were actually very nice. Anyway, after that Fox went to his room and fell asleep.

The next day, Fox woke up and saw Falco passed out on the floor. "How the hell did he get here?!" Fox screamed. Two unknown people came in and said, "We tried to catch him but he was determined to get here."

Fox remembered that the only way to get to places in this place was by thinking about where you wanted to go. That meant that Falco must've really wanted to find Fox. "Don't get rid of him. I want to talk to him," Fox said as the people moved forward to drag Falco away.

When Falco awoke Fox said, "Hey, Falco! Guess I've really changed, eh?" Falco nodded and clutched his head as if he had a headache. "Don't talk too loud," Falco said and Fox realized that whenever Fox left him alone, he'd get drunk.

"So, how are things back at your bar?" Fox asked. "Terrible. Turns out that the only reason anyone came was to see you be an idiot. Now we all just go and see the fights. They're practically giving tickets away, now!" Falco said.

Fox sighed and said, "I don't see how you can stay here." Falco laughed and said, "No one will find me," as he hid under the bed. While Fox ate breakfast, Falco read a comic that was lying under Fox's bed.

The fight between Captain Falcon and Sheik was about to begin. Fox wanted to see what happened but the guards refused entry to the crowd. "Let him in," Marth said as he passed by, coincidentally at the time.

Fox watched as Sheik was allowing Falcon to take control of the match. The crowd cheered at every kick that Falcon managed to get off. Fox, as a fighter, was sitting in the front row and he actually heard Sheik and Falcon's conversation.

"So, what are you planning to do after this? You know, are you going to move to a bigger city where there are more tournaments?" Falcon asked. Sheik replied, "No, I actually quite like it here. I don't plan on expanding my fame to the further regions of the world."

"Nice to know. By the way, I heard you were single," Falcon said. "Excuse me? You are on purposely fighting me and you're going to ask me out on a date?" Sheik said. She was also infuriated that Falcon would try and ask her out so she took her rage and fought Falcon back.

The fight turned real with serious blood flying in all directions. The fight ended with Sheik throwing a kick to Falcon's chest, knocking him out long enough for Sheik to win. Captain Falcon was officially humiliated because not only had he lost a fake fight with Sheik, but he'd also lost a real one.

The crowd chanted, "Blue Viper! Blue Viper!" The narrator said, "Seems that Falcon is now going to move downwards on the tier list!" Sheik and Fox headed for the lounge, while Falcon was dragged there.

"Wow! Can't believe you actually beat him! You must really be a good fighter!" Fox said. "Oh, I'm sure you could beat him if you set your heart on it," Sheik said, blushing. "Really?" Fox said, without realizing that they'd both complimented each other. But then Fox heard Mewtwo screaming from the kitchen.

Most of the fighters that were around came running to the kitchen to see that all the food in the cupboards had vanished. Or maybe it'd gone into the stomach of one greedy-looking bird standing in the center of the room, mouth full of bread.

"Falco," Fox said, humiliated. He'd not bothered to ask if Falco was hungry or not and it had resulted in this. Marth entered the kitchen and laughed as he saw that Falco had eaten ALL of the food. "Don't worry about that," Marth said, snapping his fingers.

Food appeared in all the shelves of the cupboards and tons of bread appeared for Falco to eat. "So you do have magical powers," Sheik said, pointing. Marth looked at her questioningly, but quickly left afterwards.

"Do you think the chambers are really controlled by magic? And that the only way out may be by him?" Fox whispered to Sheik. Sheik shrugged and they all turned to face Falco who was shoveling in all the bread he could fit in his mouth. "Hey, guys, I'm a bird. I love bread," Falco said as an excuse. Fox sighed and put his face in his hands.

Over the next few days, Sheik and Fox planned and escape route to smuggle all the non-fighters out, just like in Fox's dream. It was hard because Falco was annoying them from time to time.

Little did they know, Marth was watching them at that very moment, with the security cameras, not magic. He was the only one though because no one else believed that anyone could get away with it.

As the days passed by, Sheik realized that it would be impossible to escape. "If we could only find someone who had magical abilities," Sheik said. "Didn't you say that you did?" Fox said. "**And** knows how their way around here," Sheik said. "If only Marth…" Sheik shook her head.

Falco said, "Hey, man. I got in here and even though I was drunk, I kind of remember my way around." Fox smiled as everything seemed to be coming together. Sheik would undo the spell that controlled the chambers while Falco led them out. Fox could only hope that Falco did not mess up.

After it became dark, Sheik, Fox and Falco sneaked out with the non-fighters. They were making their way through the corridor, the light of a fire appeared behind them.

Fox looked back but it was only Falcon with a match. "Um… what are you doing?" Falcon asked. "We're escaping the torment of the fights. Want to come with us?" Sheik asked. "Only if you go out on a date with me," Falcon said. "Fine. Don't come," Sheik said and they all continued walking down the corridor.

"I was only joking!" Falcon said and ran after them.

It was becoming darker as Sheik started casting a counter-spell, although Fox believed that this was because Falcon's match was dying. Soon there was no light at all.

When this happened, Sheik cast a spell to make it brighter in the room and Fox realized that they'd entered a whole new series of chambers. He smiled to Sheik and she continued chanting.

Falco pointed which way they should go whenever they came to a fork in their path. They were getting quite far but they were stopped by Marth, who was blocking the next room.

"Guess it's time to fight, Sheik and Falcon," Fox said. "What about me?" Falco asked. "Oh, shut up!" Sheik said. "Sheik?" Falcon said. "He, he," Marth laughed.

They all prepared for a fight which was what they did best but they were not prepared for Marth's power.


	4. Escaping Just To Get Caught Again

Fox was the first to lunge forward. But then he was thrown backwards by an unstoppable force coming from within.

"Ha, ha!" Marth laughed. "We've got to use magic to beat him, Fox. So stand back… or cover me," Sheik said.

"So this is like a showdown with you and Marth," Fox said, disappointed because he wanted to beat up Marth.

"Well, it's obviously pointless…" Marth began and Sheik was lying on the ground, writhing in pain.

Then to everyone's surprise, Falco came along and started fighting Marth.

"Ha, ha! Measly bird," Marth laughed… and then found he had no control over him.

So their melee continued, all the while Fox said, "It's such a shame that us, three fighters don't get to have an awesome showdown with Marth…"

"But hang on a second? How can Falco avoid his magic but we can't? Maybe if we think like Falco, we'll be able to face him?" Sheik said.

After a few moments, they were all… acting like Falco. Well, at least in their state-of-minds.

Anyway, the true fight began after that. Falco kicked Marth's leg so punched Falco's face, noticing that Sheik was about to punch, he ducked and Sheik punched Falco in the face instead.

"You're all ganging up on me, aren't you?" Falco said. Fox kicked Marth's stomach and Falcon took the opportunity to knee him in the back. Sheik tripped him up and as they lunged at him when he was defenseless, he unleashed of wave of energy, tripping everyone over each other.

"Huh?" Falco said and laughed as he joined back in the fight. Acting like Falco was distracting to the others, but they had to fight Marth. As they stood up again, Marth was preoccupied with fighting Falco, so Fox grabbed his arms, allowing Falco to continuously attack Marth.

_This is so unfair! 3 on 1_, Marth thought. Then Sheik cast a spell that made Marth fall asleep and said, "Come on! We've got to run while he's sleeping!"

They all ran and Fox wondered why none of the non-fighters like Falco, hadn't helped in the fight.

On they ran, down the corridors until they came to another fork in their path. "Falco, which way do we go?" Sheik asked.

"Uh… Um… Well…?" Falco stuttered.

"Oh, no! What do we do now?" Sheik said. Fox tried to focus on the matter at hand but kept on remembering his dream and when they'd been escaping.

"Left!" Fox shouted out, suddenly. "Huh? How do you know?" Falcon asked. "My dream…" Fox said but Sheik nodded and they all ran down the left corridor.

They ran and ran until Fox recalled the room they were in as being the room they'd escaped through. There was a ladder leading to a manhole up ahead so they all ran to it.

After they got out, Fox was almost run over by a car zooming past. "Sheesh! Watch where you're driving, maniac!" Fox shouted.

They all climbed out and discussed where they should go next. It was decided that they'd go to Falco's bar.

Back at Falco's bar, it was empty so everyone went to sleep, wondering what would happen tomorrow.

But Fox couldn't sleep. He felt as if someone was watching him, from the window. But every time he looked out, there was nothing there.

The next day, Falco woke up and saw that Fox had been up all night. He walked around his bar and saw that it was crowded!

But they were just the people who they'd helped escape. "You can go home now," Sheik said to them but they promised they'd return so they could end the fights.

Fox had forgotten all about their side of the story and was curious to hear their plans, but they left soon afterwards. Falco was surprised to see several people enter after the others left and quickly took their orders.

Fox was thinking about the friends he'd made back at the fighter's arena but tried to forget them. He wanted to start a whole new life after the experiences he'd had in the past week or so but everyone else wanted to stop the fights.

Then, one of Falco's regulars walked in. The amount of regulars that Falco had had dropped severely when Fox had left, so a regular was an odd thing.

She walked up to Falco and ordered her usual. Sheik walked over to her and said, "You look familiar."

"I'm sure you're mistaken," she said. "I've never seen you in my life!"

"So you're not a fan of the fights," Sheik began. "Oh, are you one of them fighters?" she asked.

"Yeah. Name's Samus," Sheik said. "Peach," the regular said.

"I'm so sure I know you from somewhere," Sheik said but Peach ignored her. "Falco, why is one of them fighters here?" she asked.

"Actually, there are three of them. And I guess it's just a coincidence," Falco said. "Well, hi!" Peach said and walked to an empty table.

"So, where do you know her from?" Fox asked Sheik. "I don't actually know," Sheik said and Fox sighed.

"So, Peach, eh?" Falcon said to Peach but Sheik dragged him away. "What, jealous?" Falcon asked.

"No. I don't want you messing with someone who might be involved with… never mind," Sheik said. "Well, you think about that while I get a drink," Falcon said.

Fox joined him for he had nothing better to do.

Meanwhile, back in the fighting lair, Marth was getting lectured by his boss. "You let them out of your grasp!?" he screamed.

"Um… yes," Marth said, preparing for his boss to shout at him.

"You allowed them to fight you without calling reinforcements?!" his boss shouted.

"Um… yes," Marth repeated.

"You actually failed to beat them in a fight?!" his boss screamed.

"It was a 3 on 1," Marth said.

"That's even worse! You should've been able to beat them and the others!" his boss shouted.

"Well, they had serious mind control," Marth said.

"That's no excuse! You're fired!!!" his boss screamed and kicked him out, personally.

Marth now felt miserable about his decisions but could not take them back.

As he walked along the street, he saw someone selling tickets to a fight. He grabbed all the tickets out of his hands and threw them onto the ground. "What the hell is wrong with you?" the man said. Marth laughed but just walked off.

Snake entered Falco's bar and sat down at Peach's table. They started talking about something and Sheik was even more suspicious as they looked around, suspiciously.

Falco didn't notice this as a lot of people were showing up because there were three fighters there. He was too busy taking their orders and delivering drinks to notice suspicious things.

As for Fox, he was getting drunk as he had done so many times before he'd gotten involved with the fights. Falcon was getting drunk also but he was preoccupied by watching Fox being an idiot.

"So, that's them over there?" Peach asked Snake.

"Yeah. Same with the bird," Snake said, pointing at Falco.

"Got it. But what do you want me to do, again?" Peach asked.

"Find out their plans, that's all," Snake said and then got up. "It's been nice working with you," Snake said and left.

Peach got up and walked over to Falco. "So, where have you been for the last week or so?" Peach asked.

"I snuck into the fighter's household and got to spend some awesome time with them. I'd like to tell you more but I was pretty drunk for most of the experience," Falco said, slightly lying.

Peach said, "So, you're pretty involved in these fights, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," Falco said and Peach smiled. She then walked over to Sheik who said, "I **really** think you look familiar."

Fox heard this and looked at Peach. But this time he stared at her, thinking 'yeah, she does seem familiar.'

Marth then walked in, unnoticed, and walked up to Falco. He then noticed Peach, recognized her and said, "Hey, Peach," as he no longer cared for his boss's plans.

"Hey, Marth," Peach said, but then realizing that he shouldn't be there, asked, "What are you doing here?"

Everyone was curious to how Marth knew Peach but then Marth said, "I was fired." Peach freaked out because she knew that he'd reveal their boss's plan and quickly said, "Um… yeah. So, how've you been?"

"Fine. You?" Marth asked. "Uh… fine, too," Peach said and Sheik finally brought up the question, "How do you two know each other?"

Marth was about to tell them, but to Peach's relief, Fox interrupted him. To Peach's disappointment, Fox said, "I remember her!"

Anyway, Fox continued, "She's one of those people who worked in that fighting place! She's evil!"

"I would think that 'evil' is taking it a bit far but, I guess you've figured it out. Man, I'm bad at going undercover!" Peach said as she fled the bar.

"So. You've been fired," Falcon said. "Would you help us stop the fights?" Fox asked.

"Well, seeing that anyone who works for them knows they're evil because they're brainwashing, I guess so. But then again, I don't really care… Okay, I'll help," Marth said.

And their plans began. No one but Sheik actually suspected that this might all be a lie and Marth was undercover himself but it was all a bit much, so Sheik trusted him.

A week into their plans and they were ready. They had almost half the population of the city to help them un-brainwash the others and everything was going along smoothly.

Marth only once tried to explain that they'd get nowhere because the only way they could finish them off was to get on the inside.

First it was protests. That was a complete failure. They were completely ignored by passers-by and they were almost immediately dealt with.

Next, they spread rumors. They didn't do that bad because a lot of people relied on rumors to keep conversation going. More people joined them.

But one day, Fox felt like they hadn't made any progress at all. Everyone was still obsessed with the fights (even himself, although he'd never admit it), the organization controlling the fights was still ignoring them and Fox still felt as if he was being watched from his window.

When Fox felt as if he would finally fall asleep, he heard a rustle from outside. He shot up out of bed and saw that his window was open.

Then someone grabbed Fox and knocked him out.

When he awoke, he was in a cell, like the first time he'd been kidnapped. He knew where he was without even thinking about it.

"So, Fox. You're one of many who have been trying to stop my fights, eh?" someone said. Fox got up off the dirty bed he'd been lying on and looked at the owner of the voice.

It was the boss. The master of the organization that created the fights. His nemesis. But also his hero, somehow.

"Well, I don't think you'll be making any more trouble after this," the boss said. "Who are you?" Fox asked.

"Ugh! Everyone wants to know my name. Alright, I'll tell you. My name is…"


	5. Is It Over?

"Pichu," the boss said. Fox stared at the tiny Pokémon and wondered how he had managed to create such a brilliant, evil plan.

"Now, let's dispose of you," Pichu said, almost snapping his fingers to call in some guards.

"Wait! If you wanted to dispose of me you'd have done it on the way. You want me for something," Fox said.

"I don't think you actually know what disposing is but still, you're right. I do want you for something else," Pichu said.

"Um… what is disposing?" Fox asked.

"Well, I force you to not say a word about this, send you home to your parents, force them to guard you and I do all that, mainly because I'm against death. Of course, if you do tell someone then I'll kill you but, still," Pichu said.

"And what do you want me for?" Fox asked.

"Well, you either you start working for me or I'll put you in a battle with a basilisk until you die," Pichu said. Fox was freaked out.

"Uh… I want to be disposed of," he said.

"Ugh… It's too late now. You know your options, work for me or die," Pichu said.

"I thought you were against death," Fox said. "So? I'm evil!" Pichu said.

"And yet everyone who works for say that evil is taking it a bit far… alright. Here's my deal. I'll work for you for a couple of days and if I don't like it, you can put me in a battle with a basilisk," Fox said.

"Okay, fine by me," Pichu said.

Peach and two others dragged Fox out of the cell and on towards the third sector of the fighting lair.

"You're about to find out how it's like for us to live," Peach said as they entered a room. A small room with about 20 beds and a table.

"This place is tiny," Fox mocked. He then noticed Peach using magic, as all the people who worked for Pichu seemed to have, and the room got bigger and bigger.

Suddenly, it looked better than the fighter's lounge. "Wow! You've got magic powers, too!" Fox said.

"Of course I have," Peach said, looking at Fox like he was an idiot.

"So, your first task is to… go through that door over there," Peach said.

"Easy!" Fox said and walked through the door. When he tried to leave again, he found the door was locked.

"Let me out! Let me out!!!" Fox screamed. "Not until you're done here," said a voice.

Fox turned around and saw another small creature. "Fox, are you ready?" the pink creature asked.

"How'd you know my name? And ready for 'what', exactly?" Fox asked.

"To be a part of this organization, you have to have a magical ability. Some people don't even know that they've got any power. Like you, Fox," the creature said.

"Are you telling me that I've got a magical ability? And how do you know my name?" Fox asked.

"Heard people talking about you. Anyway, here we activate your magical ability and give you a chance to use it. I'm Jigglypuff, by the way," Jigglypuff said.

Fox still couldn't get over the fact that other people knew that he had a magical ability, yet he didn't, when Jigglypuff forced him into a chair.

"Um… What are you doing?" Fox asked as Jigglypuff locked his arms into chains. Then Fox felt an electrical bolt rush through him.

"What the heck are you doing?!" Fox screamed. "Bringing out an offensive side to your magical ability," Jigglypuff explained but Fox was furious.

He struggled in the chains as another bolt rushed through him. Jigglypuff was reminded of all the other people he had had to do this to.

Fox was now weak and was giving up just as another bolt rushed into him. But this time he did not accept it.

It rushed back around the metal bar and into Jigglypuff. Fox broke the chains with an extraordinary new power and ran for the door, which he bashed down.

He then found himself surrounded by the others. "Good, he's already done," Peach said, while another person grabbed Fox and took him through a door that he hadn't noticed before.

"Sleep now," the person said, in a calm and soothing voice. Fox found himself falling asleep and dragged himself under the covers.

Over the next few days, Fox was dealing with his new job.

He enjoyed the fact that at any time, anyone would allow him to fight him but they had to use magic.

He enjoyed his newly discovered powers greatly, but they were rather useless as he could not escape with them.

Fox discovered that nobody really wanted him there, although, for some reason, Peach was quite nice to him.

One day, Fox decided that he'd rather die than work here, so he found Pichu and said, "Throw me into the arena with that basilisk or kill me now!"

Pichu chortled but soon regained his deathly cold gaze.

"Fine. It's his choice. You know where to put him," Pichu said, eyes penetrating him.

Fox was dragged to yet another cage and was thrown in. He ran all the way then entered the arena.

In front of him was the most massive creature he'd ever seen. And around him, a crowd was cheering!

Didn't they know he was about to be killed in a severely unfair fight? Fox threw this thought away as the basilisk lunged towards him.

He sidestepped away but he was still hurt from it. He ran from side to side, not wanting to die instantly; he was still afraid of death.

Fox then remembered that the fights never involved death and there was a crowd here so that must mean they were unleashing a new type of brainwashing upon the public.

Death.

Fox was furious but he still had to keep up his routine, one side to another.

WHAM! Fox was barreled across the arena by a massive claw that had surprised him.

As he stood up again he remembered the reason why he had hated the fights so much.

Why he had found no true meaning anywhere else.

What had happened to the poor souls that he fought.

First, they felt pain throughout the fight. Then they were disposed of.

"I'm not standing for this anymore," Fox whispered to himself.

With his newly found powers, Fox formed a boulder in front of his face. He threw it at the basilisk and it was thrown backwards a bit.

But it was more surprised than hurt. He thought that this prey would not fight back.

It lunged at him again but he jumped onto his head and tore at its eyes. The basilisk howled and Fox leaped off it, clinging to the metal fencing that surrounded the audience.

He climbed up the fencing as the basilisk threw its body at him. Fox saw guards eyeing him, making sure he didn't make a run for it, then with his powers, created a long spear appear in his arm.

He jumped onto the basilisk again, stabbing it and making it roar in pain. The crowd couldn't help but cheer.

Fox twisted the spear out of the beast and gouged its eyes out. More roaring enveloped the arena and Fox leapt to the fencing once more.

The basilisk was furious. It had tried to eat the prey that its master had given him but it was stronger than it looked.

It tried to lunge at its prey one last time but Fox jumped across the arena and landed on the other side of the beast.

He turned and threw his weapon at it, before it could turn around completely, and it roared. It collapsed, giving up, and it slowly died before the eyes of hundreds.

Cheering from the crowd and as Fox glanced up at them, he noticed some familiar faces.

Sheik, Falcon, Marth and Falco had forced their way in, from the news that Fox was going to fight 'something' and had rushed to the stadium.

Fox leapt from the body of the basilisk and to the metal fencing where they all helped him over. "Let's get out of here," Sheik said, urgency rushing through her words.

Several guards had formed into a group and were heading towards them.

"But I guess we'll have to fight first," Falcon said, but almost immediately after he said this, he was attacked.

A burst of flame flew into Falcon's face. The sudden attack caused him to fall into the seat behind him.

Fox, with his powers, called his spear up from the basilisk's body and dodged the other attempts to attack him.

While Fox waited for his spear to arrive, Sheik jumped towards the enemy, fist outstretched.

She managed to knock one of the guards into another, causing them to fall. She sidestepped away before any of the guards got a single hit on her, although one gave her a shock as he whipped out a blade, causing to stumble momentarily.

The guard rushed towards her, ready to strike, but Fox dived in, spear outstretched, wounding the guard.

He fell back and in this moment, Sheik regained her positioning and thanked Fox before returning into the battle.

Marth had seen Fox's spear and realized that it was a good idea. He, with magic, created a sword and quickly built a tactic.

He lunged into the battle, swiping with the blade he held, wounding several of the guards.

The fight was going in their direction but then as Falco kicked one of the guards, it attacked back with an icy fist.

Falco felt an icy feeling rush through his veins, freezing him for a moment, but long enough for the guard to wound his leg.

As Falco tried to move he was attacked by Falcon who was actually trying to attack the guard in front of him but, not knowing that he was frozen, thought he would move.

Falcon was surprised when he bashed into Falco and it caused him to trip. In the process, Falcon and Falco were both hit by a wave of magic, from one of the guards.

A moment before Falco and Falcon were crushed, Marth blast the guard away with a swipe with his sword which he had finally gotten used to.

Falco was about to thank him but Marth glared at him before he could open his frozen beak.

Sheik kicked a guard in his chin while Fox stabbed him in his stomach, then they both grabbed him and threw him over the fencing to the basilisk.

Fox glanced at Sheik and saw her looking at him, smiling so he smiled back, enjoying the fighting once again.

Fox snapped back into reality when he saw Peach forming a ball of blue energy, the only one who'd been nice to him over the past few days, and winced as she unleashed the energy on the frozen Falco.

Marth deflected the ball of energy with his blade and Peach was hit by her own weapon. She jumped, but a little too late and her dress was singed.

Marth took this opportunity to throw his sword at her and Peach was left with a gaping wound in her chest.

Sheik, Marth and Falcon surrounded her to finish her off but they were distracted as Fox said, "Look over there!"

As they fought the guard that had snuck up on them, Fox rushed over to Peach and started to heal her with magic.

"Why the hell are you helping me?" Peach asked, pain rushing through her, blood gushing out. Fox thought about it but came up with no reasonable excuse.

Falco finally regained movement and sliced open one of the guards who was about to attack Fox. It was gruesome.

Falco was extremely happy that he had finally done something even though it was particularly messy. He continued to fight, feathers flying, protecting Fox as he healed Peach.

Marth lunged at another guard, one of the four left, but he rolled out of the way.

As Marth began to recalculate his steps, the guard he'd lunged at attacked him with a fierce elbow attack, similar to the one that Falcon was using at that moment.

After about five minutes, there were no guards left and Peach was almost fully healed. The crowd was cheering as they watched the fight and continued to cheer when everyone stared at them.

The narrator was babbling on about the surprising turn of events so Marth came up to Fox and asked, "Why are you healing Peach?"

"She… uh… she's… well…" Fox murmured. "Answer the question!" Peach snapped, surprising herself as this was in her advantage.

"I don't know. We better hurry out of here, anyway, so ask me later," Fox said as he picked Peach up and ran down the dark exit.

On the outside, three more guards were closing in on them but Marth took care of that with his sword. "That was pretty quick, Marth," Falcon pointed out, astounded by Marth's skill that he'd developed in a matter of minutes.

"Shut up! We've got to get out of here," Marth snapped and they hurried on.

They were about to escape and leave the nightmare of the fights forever when Peach stopped them by saying, "Wait! Why are we running? If you want to stop these fights then you've got to go to the source."

"Pichu," Fox muttered and Marth agreed with Peach. "I remember now. Yes, we should turn back," Marth said and Sheik's suspicions that Marth was a villain returned.

"How can we trust you? We still have no proof that you're on our side," Sheik said. "Well, I agree with them," Fox said.

Sheik responded, "What did they do to you in there?" "What? No! I'm just telling you that they are right!" Fox explained.

Their argument ended as Falco (of all people) said, "Stop shouting! As it seems that no one but Falcon and I have nothing to do with this, I believe that it should be up to us to choose. And I agree with Fox."

Falcon shrugged and Sheik felt as if everyone was turning on her. "Fine. But it better be quick," Sheik said as they all rushed back inside.

Back in the base, Fox was guiding them through the corridors as Peach was too weak and Marth had forgotten.

They arrived in a room with loads of guards and they once more had to fight.

Fox threw his spear at the group, placing Peach on the ground beforehand, and created another spear.

Marth dashed into the group, swiping his blade across them and surprising the others as they saw his familiar face.

In this moment of confusion, Falco ran in, punching and kicking anyone he came into contact with.

Fox was still busy throwing his spears into the group, trying not to hit Falco who was flying all over the place, or Marth who was dueling one of the guards.

Falcon was sitting and watching until one of the guards came up to him and started to kick him where he was on the ground. He was obviously a new guy.

Falcon blasted him away with a single, but famous, 'FALCON PUNCH' and he could do nothing about it except leave a mark in the wall he'd flown into.

They'd dealt with most of the guards, who were inexperienced in fights, until one sneaked behind Fox and stabbed him with a knife.

The guard, whom had done this, twisted the blade in Fox's back and then pulled it out, only to get bombarded with fists that belonged to Falcon and Sheik.

No guards were left. All of them were dead.'

Fox severely injured and Falco had a leg wound.

Marth was injured too, but it was because Falco had had a confusion spell put on him and it had caused him to attack Marth.

Other than that, they were unscathed. Fox couldn't move. He was just lying on the ground, hardly breathing.

"Fox? Fox?" Sheik repeatedly said. He didn't answer.

"Hey! We've still got to beat Pichu! We'll have to leave him behind," Marth said, preparing to run down the hall.

"But what about Fox? They could come and… finish him off," Falco said.

"It's a risk we've got to be willing to take," Falcon said.

"It's true. He was fighting for a cause and he would've wanted us to go on without him," Sheik said.

"He's not dead! I'm going to stay but you can go on," Falco announced.

Sheik sighed and said, "Look, if you stay here than someone else will have to stay too."

"Is that an insult? Do you think I'm not good enough at fighting that I'd get killed?" Falco asked, becoming frustrated.

"I'll stay," Peach said. "I may be injured but I think I can fight," she added.

Everyone agreed with her but Sheik was once again suspicious even though she left with the others, guided by Marth, whose memory of the area was less than perfect.

"So, Falco. You're very honorable," Peach said, after a few minutes.

"Oh! Why, thank you," Falco said. Silence followed as no one came.

Meanwhile, Sheik, Falcon and Marth were travelling through the halls until they came to a door.

"This is it," Marth said. Sheik braced herself as Falcon pushed the door open.


	6. Peace And Hope

"We should've formed a plan, Falcon," Sheik said as Falcon pushed the door open.

There was a lone chair sitting in the center of the room. It spun around and sitting in it was a tiny, yellow Pokémon.

"Pichu," Marth said, eyes narrowing, sword at the ready.

"That's… him?" Sheik asked as she had never thought that the creator of the fights would be so… cute!

"Yes," Marth answered as Falcon burst into laughter.

"That is it! I'm sick of you people barging in and laughing! I'm going to deal with you once and for all!" Pichu shouted as he leapt from his chair.

"Bring it on," Falcon said through chuckles. Sheik dived towards him but he jumped over her. Marth dashed in with his sword outstretched but Pichu just sidestepped away.

Falcon regained his senses but not in time as Pichu lunged at his face, scarring him. "AAAHHH!!!" Falcon screamed.

Marth turned around and grabbed Pichu, trying to throw him against the wall but he whacked him with his tail.

Marth dropped him and Pichu jumped on Sheik, tearing at her back. She screamed but Falcon rushed in and kicked him off her.

Marth once again tried to pick him up but this time he gave him an electric shock.

Suddenly a whole wave of electricity climbed through Marth's body and he dropped Pichu once again.

"This is too hard," Falcon whispered to Sheik. Sheik nodded but whispered, "We can't give up yet! We'll just have to keep one fighting."

Pichu lunged at the two but as they rolled away he let out a wave of energy, stunning them both.

"I can't move!" Falcon panicked. Pichu laughed as he lunged again at Falcon, scratching his face.

As their battle continued, Falco and Peach were in the middle of silence. "What's it like outside this place?" Peach asked out of nowhere.

"It's pleasant. Much nicer than these fights but not as exciting," Falco explained. She nodded and then suddenly there was a gasp.

Falco spun around and saw Fox breathing at a more regular pace. "Fox!" Falco exclaimed.

"Falco… I don't have much time left," Fox explained, "But I want you to know that you were never a REALLY a good friend."

Falco was crying but lifted his head to say, "You're not going to die, Fox!"

"Ha. Listen, Falco. I want you to have a chance so I'm going to cast a spell on you. That's all. Goodbye," Fox said and his eyes closed.

"Quick! Heal him!" Falco said to Peach, urgently. She tried to but she used a lot of her energy in the process although he didn't open his eyes again.

They heard footsteps and Falco jumped to his feet. He grabbed Fox's spear and prepared himself for battle.

Five more guards were there and Falco lunged toward them with a new power that he supposed Fox had given him.

Meanwhile, Falcon was unconscious and Marth was finding it hard to duel Pichu while Sheik was trying to use magic against.

No matter what they did the yellow mouse didn't stop fighting.

Falco was finding it easy to fight the guards and with the help of Peach, who used her magic, he defeated them in a matter of seconds.

"Peach. You stay here with Fox. I'm going to help the others," Falco said as he rushed towards the room they'd entered, although he didn't know the way.

As soon as he was out of sight, Peach picked Fox's body up and took him to another room.

Pichu was victorious. He just had to defeat Marth, who was injured, and he'd not have to fight anyone else.

But then Marth lunged back and caught Pichu, throwing him across the room. He landed in a cupboard so Marth locked him in. Pichu tried to destroy it but somehow it was draining him.

"It's no use," Pichu said. "If you beat me than the fights will still go on. I've got bases all over the planet and they'll stay after I'm gone."

Marth realized that Pichu was right. _We've been fighting for nothing_, Marth thought._ All this time…_

Then Falco burst in (he'd tried all the other rooms along the corridor first) and ran in to help Sheik.

"Falco! Why are we fighting? We're not going to get anywhere," Marth complained.

Falco could've sworn that Marth was going to cry but as he looked around the room he understood the situation.

"Fox is dead," Falco said and Marth gasped.

"You see!" Marth said. Pichu was laughing as he realized they were giving up.

Falco fell to the ground, wondering what they were doing. Marth dropped his sword, wondering why they were there.

Falcon awoke, wondering what was going on. Sadness filled the room, hope was lost and evil had won.

Then the doors burst open for the second time and who was standing there? Fox! And Peach! And all the other guards…

"What's going on?" Falcon asked. "We're here to fight back!" Fox said and Falco smiled.

Pichu burst out of the cupboard, knocking Marth down, and he landed gracefully in front of him.

"It's time we stop the fights!" one of the guards shouted.

Sheik got up and noticed that the people who'd been kidnapped (and were against the fights) were there too. Even some random people from the streets were there.

"We've spread the word and now people around the world are changing their minds about the fights!" another random person said.

_Hope,_ Falco thought. "So, you've stopped me…" Pichu said. He then sighed and collapsed. "There's no point in fighting. Just lock me up," he added.

Everyone was cheering. "It's time we go, Pichu," Sheik said. I guess they locked him up after that.

Back at Falco's bar, everyone was celebrating. People who'd been involved in the fights and some people who weren't.

Fox smiled as he drank another drink. He was celebrating with his friends, Sheik, Marth, Falco, Peach and Falcon.

Everything was perfect, too good to be true. He'd even had a near death experience.

But now he was home and everything was as it should be. He'd accomplished his goal, to rid the world of the fights.

But something still felt out of place. A part of him was still incomplete. Peace and hope was there but still there was sadness.

Never mind, back to the celebration! Everyone drank until they all passed out.

Fox awoke and saw Falco and Sheik staring at him.

"What?" Fox asked.

"You've been sleeping for two days, Fox," Sheik explained. "Two days?!" Fox asked, not believing his own words.

"Guess we really partied too hard," Falco chuckled. "Well, I did almost die," Fox said as he shrugged off the feeling that something was wrong.

"So, what's happened?" Fox asked. "Do you really want to know?" Sheik asked.

Fox nodded, feeling as if something HORRIBLE was about to be unleashed upon him. "Nothing!" Sheik said.

Fox felt as if she was hiding something, seeing as she had just said, 'Do you really want to know?'

Fox shrugged off another feeling that something was wrong and turned to Falco.

He was also smiling as he told him, "My bar's getting good business!" "Good for you," Fox said, while knowing that something was up.

Marth ran in and said, "It's starting again! Oh, Fox…" Fox thought about what Marth could've been talking about but then decided to ask Sheik about something.

"Whatever happened to your job. You know, the one where you worked for that secret organization. You know, to rid the world of the fights," Fox asked her.

"Well, we got rid of the fights so I guess I was… fired," Sheik said. "Yes, but what now?" Fox asked.

"Well, everyone seems to stay at my place now and seeing that I make so much money, I don't really care!" Falco explained.

"Okay, that's it! What is going on?" Fox said, rising from his bed. Marth sighed and said, "Look out your window."

Fox leapt out of bed and opened the curtains. First he adjusted to the light. Then he stared at the view.

It looked like a nuclear war-zone. "What happened?" Fox asked just as Peach and Falcon ran in.

"Marth! It's coming!" Peach growled but then saw Fox staring out the window. "What happened," Fox repeated.

"You would not believe what happened over the past two days but first let's go down to the bomb shelter," Falcon said as he rushed out of the room, followed by Marth and Peach.

"Come on, Fox," Falco said as he followed the others. Sheik grabbed Fox and hauled him down the stairs to the bomb shelter.


	7. Mewtwo's Reign

Down in the bomb shelter, everything was quiet until Fox spoke up.

"What's happened?" he asked. "It'll take a long time to explain but we'll try," Sheik said and they gathered around Fox.

"That day we celebrated, Falco woke most of us up. Everyone else was gone and we started to panic when you didn't wake up. Well, if we'd been watching the news then we would probably know more about what happened. But anyway, around then a bomb fell and we were almost killed so we went to Falco's conveniently built bomb shelter," Sheik said, looking at Falco suspiciously.

"About five hours after then, we came out, starving. The bombs had stopped falling for the time so we started preparing for the next bomb fall. I turned on the T.V to see if there was any news about it but it was broken. Outside, the streets were ablaze and there was this strange shadow crawling over the city… It's coming again," Marth said, as Sheik was busy accusing Falco with her eyes.

"Is that all? Have you been going back and forth between the bomb shelter and the bar for two days now?" Fox asked.

Marth, Falcon, Peach and Sheik (who'd stopped looking at Falco to nod) nodded.

But Falco protested, "That's not true!" Before he could say another word, Sheik slapped her hand across his mouth.

Suspicious, Fox decided to eat something, as he was hungry.

As he searched through the supplies he carefully watched the group, who he knew were keeping something from him.

As he ate, he suspiciously watched the group.

Finally, they all went to sleep but Fox slept with one eye open and, later on, two eyes open. Then after several minutes he actually went to sleep.

"Wake up, Fox!" Marth shouted into his ear. Fox leapt up, suddenly awoke from his peaceful sleep, and said, "You didn't have to shout."

"We have been trying to wake you up for the last 20 minutes! Now let's go back to the bar," Sheik said, leaving the three in the bomb shelter.

"Hurry up, guys," Peach said as she, too, ran from the bomb shelter. Marth got up and left without saying a word, leaving Fox to wonder what was going on.

"Where's Fox?" Peach asked as Marth appeared from around the corner. Marth gestured towards the bomb shelter, making Peach sigh and rush back into the shelter.

Fox was just about to leave but when he collided with Peach, she grabbed him and dragged him back to the bar.

"Why are you so determined to get me back in there?" Fox asked. He then noticed, as they ran past the corner, that there were groups of people in the bar.

"I thought no one left their homes," Fox said as Peach let go of him. "No one does. Except for our attackers," Peach whispered to him.

Fox was now frightened. If these were their attackers, then he would get very confused. Fox was no longer frightened and was now confused.

"I've been sleeping so much lately," Fox said to himself, although Peach heard him. She ignored his comment and returned to her post near the front door.

He looked up and saw Falco smiling like nothing had happened but on the other side of the bar, Sheik was eyeing one of the many customers.

Marth, on the other hand, looked as though he was about to burst the doors open and run away.

Fox only then realized that everyone here apart from Falco, Sheik, Marth, Peach and Falcon, were his enemies.

His first instinct was to fight them, but that was stupid.

His second instinct was to go over to Marth, unusual as it seemed.

He did it anyway, walking over to him as he stood with his hands on the glass doors.

"What's the time?" Fox asked him as he stared out the windows. "12," he responded, sounding depressed.

But Fox had no time to worry about him. "You mean midnight, right?" Fox said as he stared at the pitch black sky and the stars that were shining.

"No. I mean 12 pm," Marth said, even more depressed than usual.

"But… So the bombs wasn't all that happened," Fox said, although he was also asking it, incase Marth was lying.

"We knew you'd notice eventually," Marth said and then slumped into one of the chairs.

"On the upside, we know we won't get bombed when these guys are here," Marth added, even though Fox wasn't listening.

He walked over to Falco, who was always taking someone's order. Fox sat down and tried to relax.

"I guess it isn't that weird, seeing as we get bombed all the time," Fox murmured to himself. He sighed, remembering his boring life before Sheik arrived in their city.

"Fox, I must tell you the rest of the story," a voice whispered behind him. He turned around and saw a nervous Falco looking around the room.

"Okay, but why are you whispering?" Fox asked. Falco ignored his question and continued, "Do you ever wonder what happened to your friends at the fighting lair?"

"I thought they were disposed? No, wait… no, actually, I didn't," Fox said, intrigued.

"…Fox. Mewtwo is behind the attacks," Falco said.

"…no! He must've been brainwashed, right? Was it Pichu?" Fox asked.

"No, he's just evil," Falco said. "But… why?" Fox said, even though Falco was silent.

He left Fox to wonder what had happened to his friend, had he been consumed by greed or was there a greater evil behind it?

Sheik watched from the corner and sighed. _He had to find out eventually_, she thought.

Meanwhile, Pichu was in his cell, hungrier than ever.

The guards hadn't come for the last three days and he had become accustomed to eating a lot.

To others it was nothing but because of his size, the food they gave him was quite a lot.

Now that they had stopped he was growing hungry faster.

He had heard the bombs falling, so he was glad that he had been in the prison when they fell so he wasn't harmed, although the first one had startled him.

Now he just waited for time to pass and for the guards to return or else he would die of starvation.

Pichu heard footsteps approaching his cell, thinking it was the guards finally arriving.

"You're not one of the guards," Pichu said to the newcomer.

"No. I'm here to break you out. You are now my slave," Mewtwo said to him.

"I serve no one," Pichu said, noticing the key in Mewtwo's hand.

Silence followed the previous sentence until Pichu felt dizzy. He heard Mewtwo humming, possibly casting a spell on him, but he knew that Mewtwo had no magical ability.

"What are you doing to me?" Pichu asked. The last thing he heard and saw was Mewtwo laughing. Then he blacked out.

"So my best friend is evil," Fox said.

"Yeah, now get over it," Falco muttered, wiping a glass clean.

"It's not something you get over immediately," Fox growled, annoyed that Falco was being selfish.

The bar was now empty and Fox was preparing for the next out-break of bombs.

For the last 10 hours, there had been silence and Fox was already growing tired.

"Tired?" Peach asked, reading Fox's mind, or rather, reading his face.

"Yes," he said. "Go down to the bomb shelter. We don't want to have to carry you down there when you're asleep," she said so Fox left.

After a few minutes, Fox found he couldn't fall asleep, although he was as tired as before.

He questioned himself, "Why isn't anyone doing anything? Are we going to let our planet die? Why don't I do anything? Why do I want to go on a adventure and be a hero?"

He sighed. "Maybe I should do something…" he said and after that he finally fell asleep.

"Oh bother," Falcon said. "What?" Peach asked him. "Fox isn't waking up… still… again," he replied and Peach nodded.

"Do you think he's _dreaming_?" she asked. "…Maybe… we can ask him when he wakes up," Falcon said. "**If** he wakes up," Peach said.

"Don't look on the downside. Anyway, he **will** wake up. He can't not," Falcon said, violently shaking Fox again.

"Huh? Did I sleep in again, mom?" Fox asked. "Fox, it's Captain Falcon, not your mother," Falcon said.

Peach smirked when she heard Fox say 'mom' but quickly regained her serious manner.

"Fox, did you have another dream again?" Peach asked. "Again?... no," Fox answered, suspicious.

"Oh, I just want to know, what's going to happen to Earth?! Are we all going to sit back as it dies!?" Fox shouted.

Peach sighed, knowing what was going to happen. "No. We can't let that happen. Fox, we have to stop Mewtwo," Peach said, but not in the way that Fox was thinking.

"Really? Yahoo!" Fox said but went silent as he saw Peach and Falcon's perplexed expressions.

"There haven't been any bombings for awhile which makes us suspect that Mewtwo is planning something," Marth said, who Fox hadn't noticed in the corner.

"By the way, how do you know that Mewtwo is behind this? And why do all of his… minions come to Falco's bar?" Fox asked.

"…Mewtwo paid us a visit before the bombs started falling. He told us what he would do but before we could do anything about it, the bombs fell," Marth explained reluctantly.

"Wait, when did the bombs start falling?" Fox asked. "The day after the celebration. Why do you ask?" Peach asked.

"I don't know. I've just got an odd feeling about it, that's all," Fox said. "An odd feeling? Explain it to me," Falcon said.

"Why are you so interested in my odd feelings and my dreams? What do you know about me that I don't know myself?" Fox asked the three guilty looking friends.

"…We have to trust anything we find out because other than the fact that Mewtwo's in charge, he's blocked out the sun and the moon and they've stopped bombing our city for awhile, we know nothing," Sheik said, who'd only recently joined them.

Fox was pleased with the answer and was about to tell them about his feeling when he noticed he wasn't even in the bomb shelter anymore.

"Where am I?" Fox asked as he looked around the wooden room.

Wooden floors, wooden walls, wooden ceiling, wooden furniture, wooden door, wooden bed.

Fox stared at the wooden window and wondered how he could see out of it.

"Falco's bar. I've just adjusted it with magic, that's all," Peach replied.

"But why would you do that? And wasn't I sleeping in the bomb shelter?" Fox asked the group of his friends.


	8. Hallucinations

"Fox, you never went to sleep…?" Peach said.

"But I…" Fox said, too confused to continue.

"Fox, you went down to the bomb shelter for no reason and then a few minutes you returned, saying you couldn't sleep. Before anyone could say or do anything, you started clutching your head as if you had a tremendous headache. After that you passed out," Falcon explained, as confused as the others.

"But I… Oh, I don't want to argue about this. Just tell me why you _changed_ the place," Fox said, annoyed for several reasons.

"…Mewtwo came around again… Don't know what for but we don't want him to find the place again so we changed its looks," Peach said, obviously lying in some way.

"Oh, come on! You have to tell him the truth sometime! Mewtwo came here to find you, Fox!" Falco blurted out before anyone could stop him.

"Why was he coming to find me?" Fox asked.

"Now that, you can't tell him," Sheik said to Falco as her eyes held him on the spot.

"Why? Why is there always something that I can't know about myself?" Fox whined.

"…Go to sleep, Fox. You'll feel better in the morning or whenever you wake up," Peach said as she cast a spell on Fox to make him fall asleep.

Just then he clutched his head in pain as something flooded through him.

He screamed making everyone jump.

"Fox, Fox, what is it?" Sheik asked.

"He can't talk to you, he's screaming in pain at the moment," Falcon said, almost mockingly.

Peach started casting another spell with the help of Marth that would calm his brain.

The pain stayed and when all hope seemed lost, the doors burst open.

Mewtwo entered, laughing and said, "I'm here for Fox."

He used some unknown force of magic to pull Fox up from the bed, levitating him towards his outstretched hands.

Through the screams, Fox managed to say, "I will never be kidnapped again!"

He formed a spear in his hands, using the little magic power he had, and struck Mewtwo's right side.

Mewtwo dropped him, and chuckled.

"That was kind of funny," he said as he started forming his own weapon in his hands, but instead of a spear or a sword, he formed a sphere of dark magic.

"What the hell is that?" Marth asked, as he leaned back at the sudden interference.

Mewtwo released it and it flew into Fox.

He flew into the wall, the sphere breaking most of it, and fell to the ground with a crunch.

"Fox!" Sheik cried out, running to him, but Mewtwo swiped her away, grabbing Fox and leaving.

Everyone just stood there in silence until Marth said, "Well, if he didn't try and stop us but he knows we'll go after him, then he thinks he's better than us."

"We have to go save Fox!" Falco growled, the loyal friend of his.

"How will we know where to go?" Peach asked, the not very close friend of his but the very pretty one .

"If we run after them then we could stop him," Falco said, thinking that plan would really work.

"Falco, honestly. You're not that great at making plans," Falcon said, the obnoxious friend of Fox's.

"So what should we do?" Marth asked, the mysterious friend of his.

"We should go ask anyone we can. I mean, what are our other options?" Sheik asked, the suspicious one but who was also very close with Fox, like Falco.

"Our other option is to run after them!" Falco shouted.

"Fine, you do that and get yourself killed while we do the intelligent way of things!" Sheik shouted with an outburst of unknown anger.

"Sheik, calm down," Falco said, getting frightened.

"Oh, shut up! You know nothing about me! The troubles I went through to get here! Why I chose to be here! Who're you to tell me what to do, bird brain!" Sheik shouted.

Marth chuckled at the insult but was ignored by everyone except Falco.

"Oh, so you think you're better than me, huh?" Falco said, threateningly.

"What? I didn't do anything," Marth said.

"Oh, come on! We all heard you laugh, Marth! Just admit it!" Sheik shouted at him.

"This is funny. I've got to get popcorn," Falcon said as he ran to the kitchen.

While they all argued and Falcon waited for his popcorn, Peach slipped out unnoticed by them, saying under her breath, "All fighting for his attention even though he's not here. How pathetic."

Meanwhile, Fox was sleeping.

He had no control over it.

Mewtwo was using some sort of spell but he had no magical ability so it didn't seem to make sense, making Fox think again that there was someone else behind this.

Finally, Fox woke up in a cell.

Mewtwo was there grinning evilly.

"Fox, here you are. Welcome to my lair," he said.

"Mewtwo! We're still friends, right?" Fox pleaded through the bars.

"That was decades ago. Now we're just enemies," Mewtwo explained.

"But… then can you tell me the thing my friends know about me but I don't know myself?" Fox asked, feeling that somehow, Mewtwo would know what he was talking about.

"I know what it is but even I can't tell you. I can hint it to you but I don't want to take the chance. Now, sleep," Mewtwo said and Fox found himself drifting off to sleep.

His eyes flickered open and he realized that Mewtwo wasn't there.

He used his magic to melt the bars, wondering how stupid Mewtwo was to allow him to get away like this.

No guards crossed his path as he ran out of the dungeons, to Fox's surprise.

He burst through the dungeon doors and came face to face with Sheik, Falco and Falcon.

"What are you guys doing here?" Fox asked the three.

"We're here to save you, of course," Sheik said.

"Well, let's get going," Falco said as they all jumped onto motorbikes.

There was one more for Fox so he leapt onto, finding he already knew how to control it.

"We're going home!" Falcon cried out into the night as the sky cleared up and the sun came out.

"What the hell is going on?" Fox shouted at the three motorcyclists.

They stared at him then melted away as Fox woke up.

"Did I have another dream?" he asked himself.

But then Mewtwo answered, "No. I planted a hallucination into your brain while you did the work I wanted done."

"But how could you do that? You don't have powers?" Fox said, almost asking.

"No. But I have psychic powers. Yes. I can control your mind and send telepathic messages. Also, your friends are not coming to save you, especially not with motorbikes," Mewtwo said.

"Prepare for another hallucination," he said as Fox blacked out.

"Do you know where Mewtwo's lair is?" Peach asked the ball that was draped in purple cloth, only showing two green eyes.

"You were right to come to me," the ball said.

"Wait a second. Is that you, Jigglypuff?" Peach asked.

"Peach? Wow! I thought I'd only get normal customers!" Jigglypuff said, not removing any of the cloth that draped around her.

"But why do you have a job like this? A fortune teller?" Peach asked her old friend.

"Well, I started training my powers in something different. I don't want to tell you what it is because then you'll start to learn it and then I won't be as popular anymore. So I can probably tell you where Mewtwo is. Sorry, but I'm not going to help you or contact you after this, even though we used to be friends. The past is the past so I will now search for Mewtwo's lair, sorry for the interruption," Jigglypuff said.

She closed her eyes as she searched throughout the land for any trace of Mewtwo's lair.

"Ah! I found it! It's very hard to get to but I can mark it on a map," Jigglypuff said.

"A map? Why don't you just teleport me there?" Peach asked.

"Oops… you're right. I guess in my training I forgot about normal magic skills," Jigglypuff said.

Then there was a flash of light and when she looked again, Peach wasn't there.

She reappeared in the sky, high as the moon but still breathing normally.

There was a mountain to her left and on top of it was a castle.

There it is, she thought as she flew to it.

She landed at the bridge and strolled in.

Just as she decided where to go, a wave of depression flew over her.

She said, "I want to go home! I want to see my parents again! I should never have run away!" Then she started crying and then eventually Mewtwo came to her.

"Go away, you creep," she shouted at him.

"Do you want to go home and see your parents again?" he asked.

"Yeah, so?" Peach asked through her tears.

"I can give you that," Mewtwo said as he turned around.

In front of Peach were her parents, but she didn't know they were just a hallucination.

She cried in their arms for hours as Mewtwo smiled.

"3 down, 4 to go," he said and then teleported the crying girl to a cell.

"Peach!" Fox cried out from the cell over as he saw his friend materialize.

"Huh? Where am I? Where are my parents? He lied!" Peach shouted and then burst into tears.

"Peach, stop crying. I'm sure you're overreacting. I've never seen you cry before," Fox said so Peach wiped her tears.

They walked over to each other and put their hands through the bars.

Peach gasped as she realized something.

"Mewtwo said 3 down, 4 to go! That means he must be collecting people or something!" Peach said.

"But… I guess it makes sense… But if it was 3 down… Me and you makes sense but who was the third?" Fox asked.

"Actually, I was the first," an unknown but familiar voice said.

"Who's there?" Fox shouted.

Pichu came out of the shadows an revealed himself, bruised from fighting.

"…Hmmm… That means he must be looking for 4 more people…" Fox said, understanding their situation.

"But who? Is he choosing people with great magic potential? Or people who're good at plain fighting? Or something else altogether?" Peach asked.

"Well, I've been here the longest so I know a thing or two. He makes us see what we want to see and then he makes us actually do something in the real world. So it depends on what he wants done. If he wants to kill someone who's in the way he'd send a great fighter. If he wants to distract someone then he'll send someone who stands out. Who knows who he'll bring next," Pichu said.

"…Are you going to help us so it makes us all look like good guys, even you?" Fox asked the tiny, yellow pokemon.

"Only because I have to," Pichu said and then stared at the blue food bowl he had.

"Let's just hope the others stop arguing and save us," Peach said.

"What were they arguing about?" Fox asked.

"…Honestly? I don't actually know? Sheik suddenly got angry so Falco argued with her, but then Marth laughed, while Falcon ate popcorn," Peach said.

Meanwhile, the three were still arguing while Falcon ate popcorn.

"Stop! Where's Peach?" Marth asked.

The puzzled group searched the bar until Sheik finally said, "She must've gone to find Fox!"


	9. A Turn For The Worse

They searched all over town but found no clue of where Mewtwo's lair was.

Just as they were about to give up, Sheik felt that burst of rage again, stronger this time. She stormed off, unaware of the risks, while the others stared at her.

"What are you doing, Sheik?" Falco asked. Marth grabbed some popcorn out of Falcon's box, only making him eat more.

She was being blindly controlled by her anger, leading her to a steel pole. She punched it and her fist went straight through it.

"Uh… Sheik? Are you alright?" Falco asked as Marth coughed out his popcorn and Falcon kept on eating it.

Suddenly, the anger left her body and she collapsed from the pain in her fist.

"What the hell just happened to you?" Marth asked as he ran over to Sheik. Falco was close behind, but he was unfit so it took him longer to get to Sheik.

"I don't… know… I blacked out for a second. What happened to my hand?" Sheik asked.

"How could you not remember? You… it's like you had no control over…" Marth said but stayed silent.

He heard someone chuckle behind him and expected to see Falcon laughing inappropriately. He turned around and instead saw Mewtwo.

Mewtwo floated forward and grabbed Marth, throwing him out of the way. He picked up Sheik's now unconscious body and disappeared.

"What the hell? What does Mewtwo want with her?" Marth asked, followed by a series of other questions that were not answered.

"Well, now we have more of a reason to get to Mewtwo's lair," Falcon said, dropping the popcorn box. "Fox was reason enough," Falco said, almost shouting.

"True. But how the hell can we find Mewtwo's lair if we've spent hours searching for it to no avail?" Marth asked the air.

"I can help you," a voice said behind him. Once again, he spun around and said, "Jigglypuff?"

"Yes. It is I! I'll just get this stupid purple stuff off me. There. So, I can teleport you there. I did so with Peach," Jigglypuff said, surrounded by piles of purple cloth.

"Do you know what happened to her?" Falco asked.

"No. I do not know what your fate shall be if you enter Mewtwo's castle but-" Jigglypuff began but Falcon cut her off by saying, "How do you know Mewtwo has a castle? We didn't even know it ourselves…"

Jigglypuff stayed silent. Before Jigglypuff could run away, Falcon grabbed her.

Then the scene before them melted away. Sheik sat up, shaking her head.

"Where am I?" she said to herself as she looked around the cell.

"I'll cover the basics. You just had a hallucination. Fox and Peach are here so enjoy your life while you still have it," Mewtwo said.

Sheik snarled, then realized she was behind bars so she couldn't fight him. Mewtwo left just as Sheik realized several things.

"Is Jigglypuff really evil? What happened to the others? Are you going to kill me?" Sheik asked but soon realized she was too late, Mewtwo had left.

"Sheik!" Fox said as he ran to the edge of his cell. Sheik joined him there and asked, "Where's Peach?" "Over here," Peach said from the cell across.

"Do you know what Mewtwo's going to do with us?" Sheik asked.

"I don't even know if this is a hallucination right now so I've got no idea except he's making us do things while we hallucinate," Fox explained.

Sheik sat there, wondering if Mewtwo would successfully take over the world. The silence seemed to drag on for hours until Sheik decided to get some sleep.

Meanwhile, Marth was playing with a yo-yo for some reason, saying out loud his thoughts.

"We've got no idea of what to do," he said. "Yes," Falco said.

"Except that Mewtwo grabbed Sheik," Marth continued. "Correct," Falco answered.

"So we can't go after him because it's what he wants," Marth said. "Yep," Falco said.

"So what's the plan?" Marth asked the bored Falcon and the absent minded Falco.

"I don't know. We've got no trail and even if we did, we can't follow it… we can't do anything… I think this is one thing we can't beat…" Falcon said.

"That isn't true," an unknown stranger said from the open door in Falco's bar. "Peach?" Falco said as he sat up.

"Yes. Come on, we have to be quick," Peach said and they followed her. "Why do you have a spear?" Marth asked as they ran through the streets.

"I thought it looked cool," Peach said as she led them to the unknown. "It sure does!" Falcon said, smiling as he followed them.

"This is retarded! Even for a dream! Are you sure this is real?" Falco said as he stopped in his tracks.

"Sure, I'm sure," Marth said as he stared at Falco. "What's wrong, Falco?" Falcon asked as the bird shrank back.

"AAAAAAAAHHH!!!" Falco screamed from the pain as he woke up. "Ow… Hmmm… You're the first one to counter a hallucination…" Mewtwo said as he looked at Falco through the bars.

"Where the hell am I? Fox? Peach? Sheik? What the hell is going on?" Falco said.

"You can counter hallucinations? But I did that once, didn't I?" Fox asked Mewtwo.

"No, you didn't. You create your own hallucinations, I don't. That's what was supposed to happen in your hallucination…" Mewtwo said.

"Well, that means I wanted to see Peach with a spear," Falco said, wondering if Mewtwo was lying.

"And I really do want to see my parents again," Peach said, hiding her tears.

"And I must want a motorbike," Fox said.

"And I wanted to get caught by you," Sheik said, not believing Mewtwo's words.

"No, that one was default. I made that one," Mewtwo said, still thinking about something.

He left the room in the same condition, making Sheik even more suspicious than she was at that moment.

"Why did he tell us so much about the hallucinations? Does this mean we've got no chance of getting out?" Sheik asked her fellow companions.

"All I know is that if it was 3 down, 4 to go when he got Peach, then the other two must be Marth and Falcon," Fox said, studying the past.

"What the hell is Pichu doing here?" Falco asked as he saw Pichu eating in the cell over. "Don't mind me. Go on with your plans," Pichu said as he looked up from his meal for a moment.

Falco calmed down as the not-so-sinister Pokémon continued eating.

"I remember… I don't think there is anything we can do… If Marth and Falcon come for us, they'll fall into Mewtwo's trap… if they don't do anything then no one can stop Mewtwo's plans from going further… we're doomed…" Falco said as Fox, Sheik and Peach realized their fate.

"Goodbye, friends. See you in the next life," Peach said.

"Don't say that! Just because Mewtwo will no matter what, it doesn't mean we'll die… but…" Fox said, wondering what life would be like after Mewtwo took over.

Meanwhile, a girl was typing a novel on her laptop. She stared at the work she'd done so far (nine chapters), wondering what would happen next.

She then stared out of one of the windows, into space as her ship floated near a planet.

BOOM!

The planet her ship had been floating next to blew up, right before her eyes.

It was so unexpected that she almost missed the blur of yellow and pink that streaked by her window.

Then a creature of great power appeared before her, grabbed her and said, "6 down, 1 to go."

Flash!

The girl reappeared in a cell, with the creature sitting on the other side of the bars.

"What did I do? Why am I here? How did you bring me here? What do you want?" the girl asked, still traumatized by the explosion of the planet.

It had been her home planet and now she was suddenly sitting somewhere completely different.

"Get some sleep. You are very important for my mission and I don't want a drowsy planet seeker snoozing on the job," Mewtwo said as he left the girl in the cell.

"Is anyone else here? Where am I? Hello!" the girl asked as she put her hands around the bars in front of her.

"I don't know you? Does that mean that Mewtwo isn't after Marth and Falcon?" Falco said, who's cell was beside the girl's.

"Who're you?" the girl replied, surprised to see a human sized, talking bird.

"Falco. And you are?" Falco said, holding out his hand. "I'm Rosalina. Do you know where we are and what happened to my home?" Rosalina asked as she shook hands with Falco.

"…you're on Planet Earth in Mewtwo's dungeons and I've got no idea what happened to your home," Falco said, nervously.

"…I'm on an unknown planet and my home's really blown up…? And I'm being held here as a prisoner?" Rosalina said, almost crying.

"This is confusing for both of us, I assure you," Falco said, trying to understand the situation.

"Falco! Who came? Marth and Falcon?" Peach asked as she woke up.

"Neither. It's a girl I've never seen before. Her name is Rosalina and her home has blown up," Falco explained. "Huh?!" Peach said, staring at the newcomer.

"It's really my home planet," Rosalina said, correcting Falco. "Okay… who ARE you?" Falco asked, wanting an in-depth version.

The girl sighed and said, "I don't exactly trust you. Sure, you're in a cage like me but you're telling me I'm on a whole new planet. I'm going to go to sleep now and wake up at home."

"I'm afraid that the closest this is to a dream is a hallucination and if it is then you'll wake up here, anyway," Falco said, feeling sorry for the girl.

She stayed silent as she collapsed on the stone floor, tears in her eyes, for she knew it was true.

"What happened?" Fox said as he woke up.

"Go back to sleep, Fox. You'll find out in the morning… or night. Does anyone know what the time is around here?" Falco asked and then fell asleep himself.

Peach did so afterwards and after a few moments, so did Fox.

Meanwhile, Marth was thinking about the peril his friends were in.

The bombings had stopped and the sun was shining again, but Mewtwo was still out there, plotting, or else his friends would've returned.

Falcon sighed as he sipped a beer he'd stolen from Falco's fridge.

"Do you have any idea how long it'll take?" Marth asked as he stood in the open doorway.

"No," Falcon said as he emerged from the kitchen and into the main bar area, to see Marth standing in the doorway.

He walked out of it and into the sunlight, blinking in it as the bar had been quiet and dark.

No one was out there, yet, but he knew the state of their town would change rapidly.

At the moment there were destroyed buildings and empty streets but that would all change.

"Marth, I'm going to go," Falcon said as he dragged a suitcase along.

"Why?" Marth asked, not turning around to face him.

"The world's in Mewtwo's hands and I still haven't done so much. Like having a normal life. I've always been fighting; I don't know any life but that. I have to hurry before I miss out on a chance like that," Falcon said as he passed Marth by.

"Okay… but I know I'll see you again. Whether it's an accident or choice, we'll all meet up again," Marth said as Falcon disappeared in the distance.

"It's destiny…"


	10. Waiting For A Hero

Fox yawned and stretched as he awoke, unaware of his surroundings.

He rubbed his eyes, blinked a few times, and looked around him.

"Oh, great. I'm still here," he said as the peaceful music in his head stopped.

The dingy cell looked even worse than last night and Fox remembered waking up for a moment because…

"Fox? Are you awake?" Falco asked, eyes wide with anticipation.

"Yeah. What happened last night?" Fox casually asked, but inside he was aching to find out.

"Someone else came… and it wasn't Marth or Falcon," Peach said, letting her words sink into Fox's mind.

He took no notice, he just jumped up, ran to the bars and said, "Who is it?"

"Oh, there are more of you here. Ah!" Rosalina said as she saw a fox who, like the bird, Falco, was human-sized and could talk.

"This is Rosalina," Falco said, sipping his cup of coffee.

For some reason, Mewtwo allowed them to create coffee, probably to keep them from falling asleep.

They'd tried many times to turn the coffee into something else but had never been successful.

"Hi, I'm Fox," Fox said, waving to Rosalina as she rubbed her eyes in disbelief.

"Don't you mean, 'a fox'?" she asked, wondering where Falco had gotten the coffee from.

He had, in fact, gotten it from Peach who had created for him.

"No. 'Fox' is my name," Fox said, looking away, feeling hurt.

"Well, now that we've got all those introductions out of the way," Peach said but then an obvious fake yawn came from the cell beside Fox's.

"Oh. Sorry, Sheik. We forgot all about you," Falco said as he looked across the room at Sheik who was standing in her cell, rather than sitting like everyone else.

"It's fine. Hi, I'm Sheik," Sheik said and then sat down, facing the wall.

"…well, hello everyone," Rosalina said as she finally realized that everything going on must be true.

_My home really did explode. I really am on another planet. I'll never continue that novel I was writing_, she thought, tears welling in her eyes at every thought.

"Don't cry," Falco said, reaching through the bars as he was the only one next to her.

"Hmmm… do you ever wonder what Mewtwo's doing," Peach said, all of a sudden.

"What do you mean? Take over Earth, of course," Fox said, not considering all the facts while Falco gave his coffee to Rosalina.

"No, I don't think that's it. If Rosalina's home planet isn't Earth than he must… want to take over the universe…" Peach said, only then realizing the extent of Mewtwo's plan.

"But… he still could be being controlled by something else, right?" Fox said, realizing how evil Mewtwo really was.

Everyone looked at him (even Sheik and Pichu) like he was a sad puppy who couldn't understand that his best friend was an evil mastermind.

"Fox…" they all said, trailing off into silence so they wouldn't have to say anything.

"Why can't we just tell him?" Falco suddenly blurted out of the silence.

"Don't you realize what he could do if he knew?" Sheik said, hoping to keep Falco quiet without saying too much.

"Ha! You can't stop me! I'll just tell him," Falco said, a grin spreading across his beak.

"If I could get my hands on you…" Sheik said, hands curled around the cars as she stretched her head as far as it could go through the bars.

"SILENCE!!!" someone screamed, loud enough to shatter windows.

"Mewtwo's here," Pichu whispered to the rest.

Mewtwo floated over to Falco's cage and lifted him into the air, even though he was not even touching him.

"How do you do that?" Rosalina asked, her eyes transfixed on Mewtwo's hand.

"Shut up!" Mewtwo shouted, only whipping his head around for a moment to glare at Rosalina.

Mewtwo threw Falco using his psychic powers and he crashed into the wall, cracking his head.

"Alright. I won't tell him," Falco said, quietly, unable to say more as he drifted off into a forced sleep, followed by a hallucination.

"Do not discuss this matter any longer," Mewtwo said and then floated out of the room, majestically.

Silence followed but was broken by the curious Rosalina.

"How did he do that?" she asked, looking from cell to another.

"I guess we should tell you something. Okay, before now there has been a sport called 'fighting' and it is exactly as it sounds. People fought each other for fame, money and sometimes they were forced. Me and my friends stopped the mastermind behind it recently. He's over there," Fox said, pointing at Pichu who was sitting in the corner of his cell, motionless.

"Then after a couple of days we were kidnapped, one by one, but we realized that we were powerless to stop Mewtwo so now we are stuck here forever," Fox said, only then realizing how bad the situation that they were in was.

Rosalina paused for a moment before she asked, "Who is Mewtwo?"

"He's the who is holding us captive here. The one who just came in. He has psychic powers," Fox said, feeling something strange within his words.

"Hmmm… Do you know where Mewtwo is from?" Rosalina asked, tapping the bars with her fingernails making a chiming noise.

"No, actually," Fox said, pondering his thoughts of all the conversations he'd ever had with Mewtwo.

"…Oh, well. It's probably just a coincidence," Rosalina said after a moment.

Fox and Sheik looked at each other, thinking the same thing, _what is probably just a coincidence?_

"Anyway! About me. I travel to different planets and mark them. That's basically all I do but I was also writing a novel and while I was writing it I was right next to my home planet. In my spaceship, of course. Then, right before my eyes, it blew up! All my friends and family… all dead…" Rosalina said, trailing off into a miserable silence.

Fox, Sheik and Peach looked down, feeling sorry for her while she, herself, stared at the wall. Pichu, on the other hand, started eating which no one else seemed to do.

"So… your planet is doomed too, huh?" Rosalina said, dying to break the silence.

"I guess…" Sheik said, hoping that Marth and Falcon were having a better time.

Meanwhile, in the depths of Falco's bar, there was a mysterious figure wrapped in his cape, dreaming of a better day.

His memories had faded and he didn't know which way was forward.

The door creaked open, bringing in light to Marth's distress so he covered his eyes, blinking rapidly, like a vampire.

"…Is anyone in here?" someone asked but their eyes were brought to the cape covered brawler in the center of the bar immediately.

"…Who are you?" Marth asked, throat dry from the days he'd spent lying in the dusty corners of the bar, voice unclear as he'd not spoken for several days, eyes screwed up as he looked at the pinkish figure.

"Marth! They're coming for you! You have to come with me," the pinkish figure said, drawing closer to Marth and as he rubbed his eyes, Marth realized it was Peach who'd come to him.

"Who's coming? Where are we going?" Marth asked, learning not to trust everything he sees.

"Mewtwo. We have to get to the fighting lair. It's been inactive since Pichu was arrested so it's safe," Peach said, ready to stay and answer all of Marth's questions but her eyes were restless.

"You said 'they're coming'. Did you mean Mewtwo and his minions?" Marth asked, suspicion growing as he crawled away slowly.

"…yeah, Marth… Why don't you trust me?" Peach asked, walking slowly closer, concern spreading across her face.

"Hey, how did you get out of Mewtwo's lair?" Marth asked, hoping he could get out of this puzzle that he knew Mewtwo had prepared for him.

"Yes… that's the problem… you see, Mewtwo is coming for you but he let me go and tell you so I don't think I should go with you because I could be leading you into a trap… I guess I'll meet you later… Only you can stop Mewtwo…" Peach said, her face developing sadness as she left the bar.

Marth sat there, not sure if Peach was telling the truth or if he was dreaming so he was silent as the seconds ticked by.

Peach returned and she looked at him, sadly.

Then she flew across the room, hit by a sword which Marth could see but no hand was visible.

_She was telling the truth! Mewtwo's come for me_, Marth thought as he stood up, summoned his sword and faced his foe to protect Peach.

"Marth! Stay away from Peach!" said someone Marth had never seen before.

Whoever it was, it was not Mewtwo.

"Who the hell are you?" Marth asked, politeness leaving in an instance.

"You've got to wake up, Marth! Wake up!" they shouted, shaking him awake.

Marth looked around him and saw that he was in the streets outside of the bar and Peach was nowhere to be seen, although, the man who'd awoken him was still standing in front of him.

"Who are you?" Marth repeated, calming down as he realized he'd escaped Mewtwo's grip.

"I'm Pit. I met Fox during the fights reign. Well, I don't want to bore you with my story but I know who you are. Come, and we can stop Mewtwo… unless you're evil, of course," Pit said.

"…I feel I can trust you, which is unusual so I'll go with you," Marth said and followed Pit for hours until the two arrived in a cave.

Pitch black, Marth wondered if it was a trap until a fire was lit in the center of the cave, revealing a group of weary travelers.

"You found him," the one sitting by the fire said, supposedly the one who lit it. "Good."

"I have to go now. Oh, Marth? Stay here until I get back," Pit said and then began to leave.

"You're not the boss of me," Marth said, childishly, arms crossed.

Pit turned around and laughed, only to leave when Marth's eyes widened with shock.

"Sit next to me, Marth," an old woman with blue hair said, who was sitting by the fire.

Marth felt alone as he hadn't left Falco's bar in several days, too many to count, but something in the old woman's eyes made him feel at home, a way he hadn't felt in… so long he couldn't remember.

"Okay," Marth mumbled as he sat down next to the old woman he felt he knew, while travelers left the cave and others relaxed or rolled out sleeping bags.

Marth talked slightly with the others who sat around the fire, waiting for the return of Pit, wondering if Pit would ever return anyway...

"AAAHHH!!!" Falcon screamed. His arms flew up as the roller coaster flew down.

"That was the most exhilarating feeling of my life!" Falcon said as he jumped out of the car.

He walked over to a stall and bought some candy floss, but before he bit into it he awoke in that dark hotel room he called home.

At least for the next two weeks.

Falcon sighed as he stared out the window, darkness stretching across the streets, lamp posts flickering on and off, usually off.

He sighed again as he realized he'd never have a normal life and wondered why Marth was so certain that they'd all meet up again.

_I wonder why I thought I'd be able to have a real life. Why did I ever abandon my friends…?_ Falcon thought._ But it's not like I have a chance against Mewtwo… I don't have a chance against any villain. I… Peach…_

"I've got to help them!" Falcon suddenly said, awaking his neighbor.

He leapt out of his bed, flew down the stairs and rushed back to Falco's bar… only to return, pay for his stay and change back into his normal suit.

"Next stop, Falco's bar!" he cheered, only to be shouted at by one of the hotel's residents, "Some of us are trying to sleep!"

He cowardly ran back to Falco's bar, taking a few breaks along the way and was there by day break, although nobody knew this because the sky was always lit by the stars and moonless.

"Marth? Are you in here? Marth?" Falcon asked, head moving from side to side as he searched the bar for any sign of life.

"Shhh!" someone said from the darkness.

"Who was that? Oh, just a homeless person… I guess Marth isn't here. I'll just have to search for him. Or I could search for Mewtwo's lair… or I could search for Marth!" Falcon said.


	11. Dead Ends

"Have you caught him yet?"

"No, master," Mewtwo said, bowing in front of the sparkling, giant ball of energy.

"How long do you suppose it will take?"

"One or two days, just to track him," Mewtwo said, hoping his master wouldn't be furious.

"Make it 12 hours."

"Yes, master," Mewtwo said, standing up and leaving the dark room.

"10 hours it is," Mewtwo said once he was away from his master, knowing that 12 hours meant 10.

"I'm SO hungry," Falco said, nibbling on Pichu's tail.

"Here's your food," one of Mewtwo's minions said, throwing some grey substance on a tray into each of their cells, the worst in Falco's, and then left.

They had learnt early on that they couldn't change the food into anything, which was more than a disappointment.

They could eat like kings but instead they had to eat grey sludge.

While they ate the horrible food, Pichu enjoyed it.

"I don't know how you guys can eat this stuff," Rosalina said, grimacing as she took another bite.

"Trust me. It's hard," Sheik said, glad that for a moment she could do something that didn't involve swallowing the food before her.

"Why do we keep eating this? We're just going to go out and work for Mewtwo and he'll probably just kill us in the end so why?" Peach said, tossing her food at the wall.

Everyone else continued to eat their food in silence.

"Oh! I fell asleep without knowing it," Marth said when he awoke in the cave.

Pit had still not returned and Marth saw no reason to wait for him.

"I could go out and try to stop Mewtwo without him! But then again, before he came along all I did was lie in wait in Falco's bar…" Marth said, awaking a traveler.

"Oh, there he is," Pit said as he entered the cave.

The traveler who had awoken hid inside the sleeping bag he'd brought but Pit just walked over and kicked him.

"Oh, fine!" the traveler said and then stood up.

"What's going on?" Marth asked but then Pit threw his sword at the traveler.

Marth's widened as the traveler disappeared into thin air.

Pit looked over to Marth and realized he had no idea what was going on.

"That guy works for Mewtwo and was sent as a spy. We won't be seeing him again," Pit explained, although Marth still wanted to know what had happened to the spy.

"Let's go, and we'll make it to Mewtwo's castle by sunrise!" Pit said, dragging Marth out of the cave.

"Sunrise?" he asked, for the sky was pitch black as always.

"Yeah, that was just a joke," Pit said and Marth stood up.

Half an hour later, they were at the base of the mountain that held Mewtwo's castle at the top.

"I could get there in a few minutes but since you're coming, it's going to take about 3 hours," Pit explained and began climbing the slippery slopes of Mewtwo's mountain.

Marth wasn't sure how to follow him, as he had to climb the frozen, ice cold mountain with no equipment but after a few minutes, they came to a ledge.

Pit was just about to go on when he saw Marth collapse.

"Go on without me," Marth said, exhausted from the climb already.

"I can't leave you here. I mean, you've only just started climbing so the rest will be even harder… why don't you make it easy on both of us and teleport us to the top?" Pit asked.

"…Why didn't you suggest that before?" Marth asked, almost angry.

"Why should I have?" Pit asked.

Marth considered this, still felt angry and then started to teleport himself to the top of the mountains.

"He, he. Now he has to climb the mountain while I wait here," Marth chuckled to himself.

He lay down and relaxed, not expecting Pit to arrive in the next few hours.

He closed his eyes and then realized he was outside Mewtwo's castle.

"How did Pit even know that Mewtwo's castle was here?" Marth asked himself.

"Because I've been here before. Three times, actually," Pit said, frightening Marth out of his skin.

"How'd you climb the mountain so fast?" Marth asked, calming himself down.

"I didn't climb. I flew," Pit said and he stared at the wall of Mewtwo's castle.

"Oh… What are you looking for?" Marth asked as he saw Pit walk over to the wall and kick it.

"My secret entrance… I think he moved it over here… yes! Follow me," Pit said as he removed, brick by brick, part of the wall until there was enough room to crawl in.

"Hurry, or it'll close," Pit said as Marth disappeared into the depths of the secret entrance.

A sucking sound came from behind him and Marth realized the entrance had closed.

Pit may be inside, he had no idea, for the darkness was blinding and Marth was doing nothing but crawling forward.

Finally, when he thought the tunnel was going to become too small to pass through, it opened up into the main hallway, and Marth crawled out, looking both ways to make sure there were no guards in the area.

He stood up, stretched and looked back into the tunnel but there was no sign of Pit.

_Oh, well_, Marth thought, as he didn't want to make any noise.

He was about to walk down the hall, when he heard a quiet voice whisper, "Don't be an idiot! You don't know your way around here, so wait!"

"Who said that?" Marth said, but then quickly covered his mouth because he'd spoken too loudly.

Pit crawled out of the tunnel and said, "Me."

"…Okay. So, do you know your way around here? You've been twice, right?" Marth asked as Pit stood up.

"Three times. Yeah, so let's go this way, alright," Pit said, but before he started to walk down the hall, Marth stopped him and said, "Hey, why have you been here before?"

"It's time to tell you my story. After the fights were stopped, I followed everyone to see what their lives were like afterwards. That's how I know what happened to you guys. Although I know Mewtwo's plan and all, but… there is one room I can't get into… Anyway, that's my story," Pit said.

"…I guess I should follow you. Okay, so where are they?" Marth asked, his trust in Pit growing.

"You mean, your friends?" Pit asked, a hidden meaning behind his words.

"Yes, I guess you could call them that," Marth said and then Pit smiled, obviously wanting Marth to admit the fact.

"That way," Pit said, pointing towards a door that seemed to have not been touched in years.

Marth followed him, not once believing that he was tricking him, until the door was open.

He followed him through it, down all the stairs, not once questioning if it was all one of Mewtwo's traps.

But when they were finally there, Marth said, "Pit, I have a question I need to ask you."

"Oh. Ask away," Pit said, too casually.

"Who was that old woman in the cave? The one with blue hair," Marth said.

"…Well… I can't… really… okay… I'll tell you. That… was your mother," Pit said, reluctantly, for obvious reasons.

"WHAT?! I have to go back!" Marth said, turning around in an instance.

"No, Marth! You can't!" Pit said, grabbing his foot, making him fall.

"I've never known my parents, let alone my past…" Marth muttered as Pit dragged him down the rest of the stairs.

"…really? What happened to you?" Pit asked, although he didn't really want to know.

"Well, I can't remember, you see. One day I woke up and I couldn't remember a thing which is why I started working for Pichu," Marth said, but Pit felt no pity for him.

He just continued to drag him down the stairs until Marth stood and followed Pit the rest of the way.

"There is still one thing I don't understand," Marth said, outside the prison room.

"What's that?" Pit asked, hand inches away from opening the door.

"If you had to fly up the mountain then you don't have powers but Mewtwo wouldn't make a secret entrance, would he? So, how'd you do it?" Marth asked.

"Well, I actually got some help from Jigglypuff, to be honest," Pit explained.

"Oh. OH!" Marth said, realizing in an annoying way.

"Shhh!" Pit said and Marth realized he was going to give them away.

Then Pit opened the door.

"Where could he have gone? Did he... abandon us?" Falcon said as he roamed the streets, turning his head from side to side every now and then.

He felt like giving up as sadness overwhelmed his heart when he noticed an odd building beside him.

He entered, noticing only a table and a chair in the quiet room.

"Hello! Anyone in here?" Falcon called, scanning the room to see if there was a door at the back.

"Do you know how insulting that is?" something from the chair said.

Falcon realized that a pink puffball was sitting there, angrily glaring at him, waiting for him to reply.

"...Have you by any chance seen a guy with blue hair pass by?" Falcon asked, wondering what force had driven him into the building.

"...Do you mean Marth? Are you friends with Marth?" Jigglypuff asked, eyes suddenly relieved of tension.

"Yeah. I'm Douglas Falcon. You may of heard of me, oh, who am I kidding, you have heard of me. When I was a fighter I was the most famous one around," Falcon explained, posing as if he were being photographed.

"Spare me the life story and yes, I know who you are. I'm a fortune teller for goodness sake! Didn't you read the sign outside?" Jigglypuff asked, annoyed at Falcon's ignorance.

"...It's in Japanese, for goodness sake!" Falcon lied, sweat dripping down his face.

"You can't read, can you?" Jigglypuff asked, amusment replacing her fury.

"...No. Anyway, do you know where Marth is?" Falcon said, trying to quickly draw Jigglypuff away from the subject of his education.

"Yes, he's in Mewtwo's lair," Jigglypuff said after a moment of serious concentration.

"Okay... can you take me there?" Falcon asked, glad he had killed two birds with one stone.

"Yes... just come through this back door," Jigglypuff said, pointing at the door behind herself.

Falcon looked and was surprised, as he'd looked around the room, seeing nothing but walls, and was immediately on guard.

They were both standing in front of it when Falcon asked, "Oh, what's your name?"

"I'm Jigglypuff," Jigglypuff replied, but in that instant, Falcon grabbed her, opened the door and threw her out.

He was preparing a speech in case Jigglypuff wasn't evil, but when he looked outside he saw Jigglypuff falling down a deep, icy chasm.

"Good thing I didn't trust her," Falcon said but then realized that the others must be in danger, and he had no way of getting to Mewtwo's lair.

"...I failed you... I can't help you any further... at least I dealt with Jigglypuff," Falcon said, speaking to the empty air, feeling more alone than ever before.

"No, Douglas. You can still help your friends," a familiar voice said from the door.

Falcon looked up and was surprised to see an old 'friend' waiting in the doorway.

"Where is everyone?" Marth asked as he glanced around the empty prisons.

"They should be here! I saw them here yesterday!" Pit exclaimed, not believing his eyes.

"What? You were here before and you did nothing?" Marth shouted, angry, but quickly fell silent.

"Look, I had to," Pit began but before he could say any more, a voice was heard behind the two, saying, "Marth?"


	12. Reunion, Disaster

"Peach? Fox? Falco? Sheik? Pichu?!" Marth exclaimed, surprised to see the group but instantly on guard as it seemed like another hallucination.

"Pit?" Fox said and Falco showed signs that he'd met Pit before, the time he'd eaten all the bread.

"Pichu?!" Marth repeated, no longer under his previous master's control, he shouted his name in disbelief, again and again.

"Don't worry. He's on our side," Peach said but Sheik looked very suspicious, as usual.

"But… how did you get out of your cells?" Marth said, expecting a terrible lie.

"That's the thing, it was really odd," Fox began, while Marth thought, _I bet_.

"We were planning our last hope of escape because there was one thing we hadn't tried, but I won't bore you with the details, so we were prepared when a guard walked in, and for some reason, he was the first human guard we've seen. Anyway, he let us out, saying he was on our side. He didn't give us directions to get out of the castle and I really thought it was a hallucination but after we went around the castle a few times, we came back here, and here you were. It's weird, it's even more like a hallucination because if it wasn't, Mewtwo would surely come and put us back in our cells but I've just got this feeling that the reason we can't escape is Mewtwo's disguising the exit," Peach explained.

Before Marth explained his side of the story, everyone heard a sniffle come from within the group of prisoners.

"Oh… we forgot about Rosalina. Okay, this is Rosalina," Falco said as she stepped forward.

Suddenly something clicked in Marth's head.

"We still have time!" he said and everyone stared at him like he was a freak.

"…What was that about?" Sheik asked, the first to break the silence.

"I don't know but I hope it's got nothing to do with me…" Rosalina said, backing away but not far enough for her liking.

"Let's just get moving," Fox said as Marth broke out of his trance.

"Rosalina!" Marth said, knowing that she was somehow connected to his past, but the whole group kept on running.

"I'll lead the way," Pit said, knowing he was the only one who knew where the exit was.

"So… my trainer from when I was a fighter," Falcon said, looking at the man before him, hating his guts.

"Douglas, I have to tell you something," his trainer said, gasping for breath.

"Alright. Talk away. Nothing you say can surprise me," Falcon said, remembering the horrible moments he'd had with his trainer.

"…I'm really your father," his trainer said, looking seriously at Falcon.

"…You're joking, right? You're saying this because this is one thing I'd be surprised about and you want to teach me a lesson, like always," Falcon said, knowing the one thing he wanted in all his life was to meet his real father.

"…It's not a joke. From the day you were born, I've trained fighters and you were taken before you could remember. The closest I could be to you is being your trainer but if I told you… they'd do worse than just kill me," his father/trainer said.

"…Okay. So, you're my father. Now how can I save my friends?" Falcon asked, becoming desperate.

The clock ticked on as he willed it to stop, anything that would give him more time to save his friends… and Peach.

"Well, as you're clear of now, Jigglypuff is evil. Well, go on," his father said, impatiently gesturing him away.

"What do I do?" Falcon asked, surprised that his father didn't know the problem Falcon had with understanding.

"Jigglypuff works for Mewtwo so she must have some way of communicating with him…?" his father said, hinting what Falcon had to do.

He started to search the room, noticing that the door had disappeared, but nothing caught his eye.

"Do you know what it is?" Falcon asked, just to be sure.

"Yes. But if you never learn yourself then I'll have failed you as a trainer," his father said.

"Don't you think there are more appropriate times to do this? Like, when my friend's lives aren't in danger?" Falcon asked, searching through draws.

That's when he saw it.

The giant crystal ball in the center of the table.

He could see into a dungeon when he focused on it but sometimes, people would pass by.

"Okay, so the crystal ball's the communicator. What now? How do I get there?" Falcon asked but then something else struck his mind. "Wait, how do you know who Mewtwo is?"

"There's a group of renegades, most use to work for Mewtwo and Marth, your friend, is with one of our best so I know he's safe. We're all working to end Mewtwo's Reign," his father explained, satisfying Falcon's curiousity.

"…So how do I get to his lair?" Falcon asked, as the silence intensified.

"Can't you find out yourself? That was the whole point!" his father said, more frustrated than Falcon had seen him before.

"…okay. Do you know how to get there?" Falcon asked.

"That's it!" his father said and grabbed his son's hands.

He placed them onto the crystal ball and after a moment he vanished.

"Where am I?" Falcon asked as he looked around the room.

It looked like an entrance but there were no doors in the entire room, so the only way to get there must be teleporting.

Two grand staircases were behind him but they lead nowhere, or at least no doors and Falcon quickly learnt that there was nowhere to go and no way back.

Just before he gave up, a group of people came through a wall, startling Falcon but he calmed down when he saw who they were.

"How'd you get here, Falcon?" Sheik asked, suspicious that this was another part of the hallucination.

"Well, I met my trainer and it turns out he's my father, Jigglypuff is evil, for everyone who knows Jigglypuff and… well, I got teleported here," Falcon explained, looking around for a way out again.

"Wait a second… I'm sure this is where we came in," Marth said, noticing that the doors to the castle were not where they should be.

"That's because I control this place. I can make you see what I want you to see. Now that you're all here together, prepare for the end," a voice said behind them.

Everyone turned from where the doors were supposed to be and saw Mewtwo, standing at the top of the staircases, in front of a sparkling, giant ball of light.

"So… we were supposed to escape?" Falco asked.

"Yes. Now you must meet my master," Mewtwo said, stepping out of the way and letting the sparkling ball of light pass by him.

"Does that mean you're being controlled by him? Are you actually good… Mewtwo?" Fox asked, feeling he was wrong.

"No, I'm just evil," Mewtwo explained.

"Did you know this about Mewtwo, Pit?" Marth asked but Pit shook his head as he stared at the ball of light in awe.

"What do you want?" Pichu asked the ball of light.

"You," the ball of light said, straight forward.

"What do you want us for?" Rosalina asked, frightened.

"Why the hell would I tell you my plan?" the ball of light asked, bewildered, but Fox seemed to relax after he said these words, as he was sure they wouldn't die.

"Who are you?" Marth asked.

"I have no name, although someone called me K once," the ball of light answered.

"What are you?" Peach asked.

"This isn't my true form and I don't know if there is a name for my true form," the ball of light answered truthfully.

"I don't think he's taking this seriously," Falcon whispered to Fox but then asked the ball of light, "Why are you telling us all this?"

"Well, that's all part of my plan so I can't exactly tell you that," the ball of light responded.

"Where are you from?" Pit asked and everyone stared at him oddly.

Sheik wondered why Pit would want to know that, but not suspiciously, like her usual self, just curiously.

"I am from another world," the ball of light stated plainly.

Everyone was silent after that, Pit still staring in awe at the ball of light, Pichu with his eye on Mewtwo as the being of psychic energy grinned mischievously, Marth full of hate when he glared at the ball of light, not even understanding why he hated it as it seemed to be harmless, Sheik's eyes fulled with fear, even though she was usually one of the bravest.

"…What next?" Falco asked, piercing the silence.

"I'm glad you asked," the ball of light said and the group vanished, reappearing in a whole new area, seeming like a whole new world.

They turned around and saw space wherever they looked.

They were standing on platforms that were practically invisible.

While the others looked around, Fox looked back at the ball of light, and saw it was not a ball of light after all.

"Guys… look," Fox said, tapping Falco on the shoulder.

Everyone turned, looked and gasped.

Some in fear.

Some in awe.

Some in honor.

But one was in realization.

_K_.


	13. Choice

"What are… you?" Falco asked, fearing the being of power.

"I am K," the ball of light responded.

"K… K… Kirby," Fox said, surprising everyone.

"…How do you know me?" the pink ball of light asked.

"I've been waiting for this day, for my whole existence. You were always there, watching me…" Fox said, remembering moments of terror.

"I thought you didn't have a name?" Rosalina said, frightened but standing up for once.

"I don't… It's what he called me," Kirby said, no longer shining as before.

"How do you know each other?" Peach asked, staring at Fox instead of Kirby.

"…He was in my dreams…" Fox explained, delving into his past.

"Anyway, on to a different question," Kirby said, expecting a volley of questions.

"What do you want us for?" Falcon asked.

"Can't I answer that one last? Or never?" Kirby asked, irritated with the people before him.

"Well, where are we?" Pichu asked.

"You're in a place between universes," Kirby said and Fox's ear twitched in annoyance, as he still couldn't believe the words he heard.

"Why did you choose us?" Marth asked and Kirby smiled.

"Finally an intelligent question. You see, I want to create a universe," Kirby explained and everyone went silent.

"How are you going to do that?" Fox asked, completely oblivious to his friends, even Pichu, around him saying, "Don't tell him! Don't tell him!"

Then Kirby erupted into laughter.

"This is priceless! All your friends know and you don't! It's too funny for words! Well, actually, it isn't that funny. It's deadly serious," Kirby said, his eyes narrowing.

"…Can you tell me? What my friends won't?" Fox said and the space around them seemed to go into slow motion.

"Noooooooo!" Sheik shouted but it seemed as if time stopped her from doing anything else.

"He has the right to know," Falco said, his words slowly coming out of his mouth.

"We would've told you if it wasn't bad!" Peach said, tripping as she tried to run forward but falling slowly.

"What's going on?" Rosalina asked, her voice normal as if she wasn't affected by time slowing down, although Fox was the only one who noticed.

"Only because it is necessary to my plan. Fox… you are the Creator and Destroyer of Universes. The Master of Time. The Generator of All Life. You… are practically God… and you didn't even know!" Kirby said, chuckling as he did so, and time sped up again, everyone tumbling forward as they tried to stop Kirby from speaking.

"I'm what? Why didn't you tell me this? Didn't you trust me?" Fox asked, turning to face his friends who averted their eyes, ashamed, except for Falco who stood proudly among the others.

"Wait… if you want to create a universe… then why do you need me?" Falco asked.

"Are you underestimating your potential? Don't worry, you'll find out soon," Kirby said, but Falco still felt lost.

"Now, Marth, Rosalina, you must remember your past for this to work," Kirby said.

"I have a past!" Rosalina exclaimed, furious.

"That's what you think. But seriously, you don't remember," Kirby said and then grabbed the hands of Marth and Rosalina.

Suddenly the room turned pitch black and Marth frantically reached for the ground, only to find himself floating in the air.

He turned and saw Rosalina but no one else in the empty space.

"Now it is time. Think back as far as you can," Kirby's voice said, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Marth found himself remembering everything he'd ever done until he came to the moment he'd awoken, no memory of what had happened before then.

"Now, do you remember anything when I say… 'Black Hole?'" Kirby asked and something else in Marth's mind clicked.

"I'm going back!" he shouted.

Rosalina stared at him, thinking, _Oh, god! Not again!_

"Ha! I love people who lose their memories like you two. You always play out the scenes you can't remember so that you can fix your memories," Kirby said, chuckling.

"Please don't tell me that I'm going to do that!" Rosalina said, looking up as if Kirby were there.

"I'm afraid so. Well, seeing that Black Hole doesn't remind you of anything, what do you think of when you think of you planet blowing up?" Kirby asked.

"…I think of my family…" Rosalina said, memories of her fake home flying through her mind.

"No. Your real planet," Kirby said and Rosalina looked up again, furious.

But then silence overtook her as she remembered blazing flames, coffee black smoke and Marth's blue cape, its ends burnt from the fire…

"Go, Marth! I won't make it! You have to run!" Rosalina said while Kirby chuckled, knowing that everyone fell eventually.

The day they'd lost their memory, reanimated itself in their minds.

The city blazing, the Black Hole approaching, everyone running for their lives.

Marth and his mother were among them, but Marth stopped running when he realized Rosalina wasn't with them.

"Mother, we have to go back and find Rosalina!" Marth said, feeling the struggle of his planet beneath his feet as it tried to prevent being pulled into the Black Hole behind it.

"Marth, if you go back you'll get eaten by the Black Hole!" Marth's mother said, trying to lead Marth away.

"We still have time!" Marth argued, pulling away.

"No, Marth! We don't! It's too late for Rosalina but you don't have to die!" his mother said.

"I'm going back!" Marth shouted, running toward the wreckage of the city.

His mother looked back and forth between the city and the spaceship the rest of the planet's inhabitants were boarding and she finally decided to go after Marth.

He had made it to the collapsed house that used to be Rosalina's, seeing her underneath the rubble he ran towards her.

He pulled her out, saying, "Come on, Rosalina! We have to get out of here!"

"Go, Marth! I won't make it! You have to run!" Rosalina said, coughing as she was pulled into smoky air.

"I'm not leaving you!" Marth argued, trying to pick her up so he could carry her to the ship.

"Marth. If you stay here with me you'll die. If you go, then at least one of us will live," Rosalina said, her eyes drooping, her voice weakening.

"Then I'll stay," Marth said, giving up on moving Rosalina.

Then the whole planet was engulfed by the Black Hole.

Marth and Rosalina returned to the present, seeing Kirby's face appear in the darkness.

"See. You now remember," Kirby said, Marth and Rosalina standing up from the position they'd been in their memory.

"Okay… but why are we here? We were eaten by that Black Hole, right?" Rosalina asked.

"Yes. You were actually sent to a different universe, along with your planet, the ship you were supposed to board and, of course, your mother," Kirby said, directing his attention to Marth.

"…But, where's the planet?" Marth asked.

"Your planet and the ship were taken to a different universe than this one," Kirby explained, wondering how many questions the two were going to ask.

"So, why did we need to know that?" Rosalina asked, calming down.

"I don't know. It's just easier when people know the truth," Kirby said and the group reappeared in the place between universes.

"What happened?" Sheik asked, surprised as everyone else was.

"Apparently we're from another universe," Marth said through gritted teeth.

"Um… Kirby? I have to ask you something… What caused that Black Hole?" Rosalina asked.

"Why do you ask?" Kirby asked, sitting down on a chair that hadn't been there a second ago.

"I don't know. I just think you're somehow connected to it," Rosalina said, mumbling random things that no one could understand.

"Good work. I am connected to the Black Hole. I created it," Kirby said.

"What! You destroyed my planet?" Marth asked, furiously creating a sword in his hand.

"No! It just went to another universe! Don't you ever listen?" Kirby asked.

"Gosh! You're so different now, Marth!" Sheik said, not suspicious for once, making everyone suspicious.

"Anyway, I'll be off," Kirby said, floating toward a platform.

"Wait, why would you tell us you were going to use us if you are just going to leave?" Fox asked.

"Firstly, why would you ask? I thought you wanted to stop me? Oh, well, and secondly, I was just preparing you for what is to come. I'll return for you one day, Fox, Zelda, Falco, Rosalina," Kirby said, and started to float forward again, only to be stopped by Fox, again.

"Why us?" Fox asked, referring to the four he had named.

"You'll find out," Kirby said and started to open a portal, to another universe.

He stopped, considering something, and then said to Fox, "You know, I've been watching the world for a long time, and I've seen your life. If you want, you can come through this portal, leave this world behind, and experience a whole new life. A chance to start over, to go on adventures… I guess I should warn you... you may meet doubles," Kirby said.

"What do you mean, doubles?" Fox asked.

"There's more than one Fox out there, as there are more than one Kirby. Understand?" Kirby asked, opening the portal and he then stepped through it, not caring if Fox understood him or not.

Fox thought, _should I? My life's been rotten so far… but my friends…_

"Wait, who's Zelda?" Fox asked, suddenly realizing a fault. Silence sneaked up behind the group until Pit raised his hand.

"You're Zelda?" Fox asked but Pit said, "No. I think Sheik is Zelda… Actually, I'm sure."

"…But," Fox said, shocked as he looked at the severely embarrassed Sheik.

"That's weird. You started out as Samus and then you said you were Sheik," Falco said but was silenced as Zelda explained.

"I didn't tell you because I'm the Princess of Hyrule! I traveled the world, vanquishing evil and I didn't want anyone to know the truth! Practically everyone knew me as Sheik…" Zelda explained, falling to her knees as she looked at the ground, depressed.

Then a mystical light surrounded her and she looked like a completely different person when the light cleared.

"…So you lied to us," Fox said, silent as he considered his options again.

He stepped towards the portal, wondering if he should go through it, leaving his friends behind, possibly forever, or stay with them, never knowing the world of excitement he'd have seen if he'd gone through.

He stared into the portal of madness, seeing swirling colors and lightning shards, flower petals and fire blasts… and stepped through it.

"…Way to go, _Zelda_!" Falcon said, angrily.


	14. A New World

A/N: Okay, I've changed it a bit so anyone who has read the entire thing will have to start at Chapter 14. I just think the storyline had to change a bit.

* * *

"Hello, stranger! What brings you here?" the Innkeeper asked.

The robed being grunted in reply and walked upstairs, leaving a few gold coins on the counter.

A group of soldiers, mercenaries and others were gathered around a table, drinking, so only one noticed the stranger but the Innkeeper.

They stood in the corner, away from the others and the light but they walked out to ask the Innkeeper, "Who was that man?"

"I don't know, I've never seen him before," the Innkeeper said, already cowering in fear before the warrior.

"I would like to see him," the warrior continued.

"But- but…" the Innkeeper stuttered.

Before he could breath a word more, the warrior stormed up the stairs and after the robed being.

The warrior found his room easily and kicked it down with one hard kick.

The robed being was already waiting for the warrior and they glared at each other.

"I've seen you before. Wherever there is a disaster, you are there. Who are you?" the warrior commanded, eyes flashing fiercely in the light of the fire.

The robed being said nothing in reply but only sheathed his sword.

The warrior did the same and for one moment, the galaxies turned to watch them.

They charged at one another, one fighting to tear the hood off of the other one, the other defending itself.

Finally, they fell to the ground and the robed being's face was revealed.

The warrior gasped and said, "You are not human? Are you a demon?"

"No… My name is Fox," the no longer robed being said.

"Fox? If you are not human, nor demon, then tell me, what are you? Cursed?" the warrior asked.

"No… And I can't tell you," Fox said, placing his sword back in its scabbard.

"…Why not?" the warrior asked, blade still facing him.

"Because you wouldn't believe me," Fox stated plainly.

"…That is probably true. Well, in that case, I shall not reveal my identity," the warrior said, although with a helmet over the warrior's face, it was most likely he wasn't going to find out anyway.

"Anyway, I've got to get some sleep. I must get up early in the morning and leave," Fox said, trying to make the warrior leave.

"…Wait! That means I won't see you again… May I come with you?" the warrior asked.

Fox was shocked.

Over the 5 months he'd been in this world, not one person had been interested in him.

Suddenly, this _warrior _wanted to travel with him.

While he made up his mind, he pulled his hood over his head, covering his face in darkness again.

"Alright. You may," Fox said and the warrior finally left his room.

* * *

Fox jumped out of bed, making sure no one was there.

He looked about, and pulled his cloak over his head.

"Awake, at last," the warrior said from the empty entrance.

"Oh, yeah. I'm going to have to pay for that," Fox said, reaching into his pocket for gold coins.

"No need. I have already paid," the warrior said and stood up straight.

"Oh. Well, let's get going then," Fox said.

"Wait! I don't think we should go just yet. I believe something interesting is going to happen right here," the warrior said.

"Oh, really? Why's that?" Fox asked.

"Because Princess Zelda is arriving in town," the warrior said.

"Pr- Princess Z- Zelda?" Fox asked.

"Yes. Do you know her?" the warrior asked, intrigued.

"Once, I did. A long time ago. Well, not that long ago," Fox said.

"Interesting. It is said that anyone who meets her will be cursed forever. Makes sense," the warrior said and the two walked out of the Inn.

"They lock her into a carriage and let no one see her face. If they did, everyone would be cursed," the warrior said.

"I don't believe that is true. If you just gave her a chance…" Fox said.

"Ha! Are you serious? Don't tell me you were always a… half-being?" the warrior said.

"Yes, I was. And I'm not a 'half-being.' My father and mother were like this. I am just another species," Fox said.

"Strange. Very odd," the warrior said as they made their way into the street.

"So, when does the princess arrive?" Fox asked.

"…A few hours. When she does, the streets will be clear like now," the warrior said.

"Yes, you made that clear. You don't have to say that. People are frightened of her. If someone met me, apart from you, they'd treat me the same," Fox said.

"What do you mean 'apart from me?' Am I different?" the warrior asked.

"I believe you are. I have met someone like you, though," Fox said.

"Okay… I trust you," the warrior said.

"Really? Already? I don't even trust you, you know," Fox said.

"You speak… strangely, sometimes," the warrior said.

"So?" Fox replied.

Finally, the two just sat down on the side of the street in wait for the Princess.

* * *

Falco was standing behind the counter at his bar in the early hours of the day.

No one else in the house was up yet, but the bar was open incase someone was desperate for a drink.

Even after 5 months had passed, the world was still reconstructing after Mewtwo's reign.

He proceeded to wipe each glass in the cupboards clean, going over the memories of the fights.

He was remembering how he'd met everyone, Sheik, Captain Falcon, Marth.

He even started to remember his first encounter with Fox, and as he grew up, the many more encounters with Fox.

He then remembered when he'd met Peach, whom only he and Peach knew of.

He laughed out loud, thinking, _those were the days._

He looked towards the stairs, wondering when the rest were going to wake up.

Pichu had vanished one night, a few months ago, but they didn't really know him so it was better that he was gone through his eyes.

Rosalina had left to start again on this new planet, around five weeks ago.

And the rest were like him, getting used to their lives now, settling down.

He then remembered Fox again, when he'd gone through the portal…

He knew he would never see him again, and he'd accepted that, but he'd never been into the bomb shelter in 5 months.

It brought back too many memories.

He had grown up since Fox had left, he no longer got into trouble…

…And now he had friends.

Many more than before.

The door to the bar opened and Falco studied the newcomer.

Falco had never thought anything out-of-this-world would happen again, he would never see Fox again…

But… seeing this guy again made Falco think twice.

"What are you doing here, after so long… Pit?" Falco asked.

"Something's happened… We need everyone," Pit said.

Falco said nothing more, only rushed upstairs to wake the others.

* * *

"So… How long have we waited?" Fox asked the warrior, still on the stone steps beside the road.

But before the warrior replied, the trotting of horse's hooves was heard.

They both looked up the road and saw a carriage approaching them.

"Princess Zelda has arrived!" the warrior said, cheerfully.

Fox and the warrior stood up, staring at the ever nearing carriage, imagining Zelda's face inside.

The brightly decorated carriage hid the horror inside.

Nothing about it seemed to tell you of Zelda's curse, except for the black horses.

Fox was about to open the door to the carriage when the warrior stopped him.

"Wait, Fox! If you enter-" the warrior began but Fox just shouted at him in reply.

"Captain Falcon did it!" Then he flung open the carriage door.

Princess Zelda was sitting there, looking slightly different to his own, but upon seeing her, he knew she was her double.

"Who are you?" she asked, stunned by their sudden appearance.

The carriage kept on moving as Fox and the warrior leapt in.

"What are you doing here?" Princess Zelda asked, fear in her voice this time.

_No one's ever supposed to enter my carriage…_ she thought.

The warrior was waiting to see what Fox would do.

He was curious to why Fox had entered the carriage in the first place.

He knew Fox, many people did, as the traveler who was everywhere a disaster happened.

They all called him cursed, so the warrior wanted to know more.

"Answer me!" Princess Zelda ordered, trying to seem threatening.

"Princess Zelda! I would like to speak with you in great detail… Alone," Fox said, looking back at the warrior as if to say, _would you excuse us?_

The warrior nodded, walked to the front of the carriage, shouted something in another language and the horses came to a halt.

The warrior jumped off the carriage after that, leaving Fox and Princess Zelda in alone.

"Okay, now tell me, why do you wish to speak with me. And who are you?" she asked.

"…My name is Fox, and, Princess Zelda, I have something important I must tell you."


End file.
